KND   THG 


SWEDISH    LAPLANDERS. 


THE  MIDNIGHT  SUN 


THE  TSAR  AND  THE   NIHILIST 


ADVENTURES    AND   OBSERVATIONS 


IN  NORWAY,  SWEDEN  AND  RUSSIA 


BY 

J.  M.  BUCKLEY,  LL.  D. 


ILLUSTRATED 


BOSTON 
D.  LOTHROP    AND   COMPANY 

FRANKLIN    AND    HAWLEY    STREETS 


Copyright,  1886, 

by 
D.    LOTHROP   &   COMPANY. 


BERWICK    A    SMITH,    PRINTERS,    BOSTON. 


PRELIMINARY    NOTE. 

THIS  volume  is  an  attempt  to  describe  the  portions  of  a  journey  of 
nearly  ten  thousand  miles  in  Norway,  Sweden  and  Russia,  most  likely 
to  interest  others. 

I  hope  to  impart  to  such  as  have  never  seen  those  countries  as  clear  a 
view  as  can  be  obtained  from  reading,  and  to  aid  those  who  contemplate  a 
similar  journey  to  prepare  for  it.  Besides,  I  wish  to  show  those  who  find  the 
beaten  track  of  travel  monotonous,  that  the  north  of  Europe  may  give  them 
new  sensations  and  valuable  information.  They  who  have  been  over  the  same 
ground  may  find  pleasure  in  comparing  their  recollection  with  the  impressions 
of  another. 

The  style  of  an  animated  narrative  has  been  sought.  Maps,  Gazetteers, 
Geographies,  and  Guide  Books,  have  been  freely  consulted,  and,  when  possible, 
tested  on  the  spot.  If  found  correct  they  have  been  quoted  for  measure- 
ments, inscriptions,  dates,  etc. ;  otherwise,  their  errors,  if  important,  have  been 
pointed  out. 

My  chief  reason  for  travelling  in  Russia  was  to  study  the  "  burning  ques- 
tion "  NIHILISM,  and  kindred  subjects.  These  I  have  endeavored  to  treat 
thoroughly  without  repetition  or  dullness.  If  the  reader,  on  finishing  the  book, 
shall  neither  feel  weary  nor  that  he  has  wasted  his  time,  the  author  will  be 
satisfied.  J.  M  B. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   I. 

The  Capital  of  Denmark.  —  "  The  Church  of  our  Lady."  —  Thorwaldsen's  Risen  Christ  and  the 
Statues  of  the  Apostles.  — Thorwaldsen's  Museum.  —  Museum  of  Northern  Antiquities. — 
The  Rosenborg  Palace.  —  Missions  of  American  Churches  in  Denmark. 


CHAPTER   II. 

Entering  Sweden  at  Gothenburg.  —  The  Voyage  to  Gothenburg.  —  The  Kattegat.  —  Hamlet's 
Tomb  ( ?).  —  The  American  Flag  in  an  unexpected  Place.  —  Gothenburg. — A  courteous 
Consul.  —  More  American  Christianity.  —  The  Famous  Gothenburg  ''System." 


CHAPTER    III. 

The  Capital  of  Norway,  "Beautiful  Christiania."  —  A  rough  Voyage  and  some  comical  Suf- 
ferings.—  The  site  of  Christiania. — The  Royal  Palace  and  the  Museums.  —  Democratic 
Sentiment.  —  Norwegian  Oratory.  —  The  State  Church.  —  The  Ancient  Viking  Ship. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

A  picturesque  Journey  and  an  ancient  Capital.  —  Norwegian  Mountain  and  Lake  Scenery. — 
The  largest  River  of  Norway. — Desolation.  —  Arrival  at  Tronclhjem.  — St.  Olaf's  Well 
and  Cathedral. — The  Lunatic  Asylum.  —  American  Locomotives  in  Trondhjem.  —  King 
Oscar  and  the  Lovers.  » 

CHAPTER   V. 

Northward  along  the  Norwegian  Coast.  —  No  need  for  Candles,  Gas  or  Electric  Light.  — 
The  Vessel  and  the  Passengers. — The  queer  Norwegian  Fishing  Vessels.  —  The  Tor- 
ghaetta.  —  The  Seven  Sisters  and  "The  Horseman's  Island." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Among  the  Glaciers  beyond  the  Arctic  Circle.  —  The  Glacier  of  the  Svartisen.  —  First 
Glimpse  of  the  Lofoden  Islands.  —  "  A  Spectacle  of  surpassing  Grandeur." —  Alpine  and 
Norwegian  Mountain  Scenery  compared.  —  Arrival  at  Bodo.  —  Reminiscence  of  Louis 
Philippe. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

The  Lofoden  Islands  and  the  Maelstrom. —  Description  of  the  "  Lofoden  Wall."  —  Torfisk  and 
Klipfisk.  —  Not  beautiful,  but  Sublime.  —  The  Maelstrom  described. —  Scientific  Facts 
concerning  it.  —  Anchoring  at  Tromsoe. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

Among  the  Laplanders.  —  In  the  Harbor  of  Tromsoe.  — Account  of  Lapps  in  Norway,  Sweden 
and  Russia.  —  Visit  to  the  Encampment.  —  Five  Families  of  Lapps.  —  Herds  of  Reindeer. 
—  Lapp  Babies.  —  Lassoing  the  Reindeer.  —  Lapp  Dogs.  —  Peculiarities  of  the  Lapps. 

CHAPTER    IX. 

En  Route  to  the  most  northerly  Town  in  the  World.  —  Description  of  Sun  Phenomena. — 
Mountains  that  seemed  higher  than  Gray's  Peak  or  Pike's  Peak.  —  Perpendicular  Water- 
falls.—  Laws  of  Perspective  overthrown.  —  Strange  Birds.  —  Hammerfest  in  Winter  and 
Summer. 

CHAPTER   X. 

Farewell  to  Civilization.  —  A  Revelation  concerning  the  Weather.  —  The  most  northern 
Lighthouse  in  Norway.  —  Sounding  Brass  and  tinkling  Symbols.  —  Strange  Actions  of 
Seagulls.  —  Queer  Food  for  Cattle.  — A  Multitude  of  Whales. 

CHAPTER   XI. 

"The  huge  and  haggard  Shape  of  that  unknown  North  Cape."  —  Anchoring  at  the  Base. — 
The  Ascent  to  the  Summit.  —  View  of  the  Sun.  —  The  Column  of  Oscar  II.  —  Description 
of  the  Midnight  Sun.  —  Explanation  of  the  Phenomena.  —  Conduct  of  the  Passengers. — 
The  return  Voyage. 

CHAPTER   XII. 

From  Trondhjem  to  Upsala. —  Crossing  the  Line  into  Sweden. —  Ostersund  and  its  beautiful 
Lake.  — Upsala.  —  The  Cathedral.  — The  Tomb  of  Linnaeus.  —  The  University.  —  A  Visit 
to  the  Library. —  Emanuel  Swedenborg.  —  The  Cemetery  and  the  Graves  of  Sweden's 
great  Men. 

CHAPTER   XII I. 

"The  Venice  of  the  North." — Reaching  Stockholm.  —  Remarkable  Situation  of  the  City. — 
Statues  and  Monuments.  —  Site  of  the  "Blood  Bath."  —  Dramatic  Sculpture.  —  The 
Burial  Chapel  of  Gustavus  Adolphus. —  His  Battle  Hymn. 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

Stockholm  (continued).  —  Scandinavian  Curiosities.  —  Pleasant  Reminder  of  New  England. — 
Great  Lutheran  Church.  —  Roman  Catholicism  in  Sweden. —  American  Missions. 


vi  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   XV. 

Characteristics  of  Swedes  and  Norwegians.  —  Difference  in  Manners.  —  Sparseness  of  Popula- 
tion in  Norway.  —  Influence  of  religious  Oratory.  —  Reverence  and  Sensibility  of  both 
Swedes  and  Norwegians.  —  Alcohol.  —  Economy.  —  Cheerfulness  of  Norwegians  under 
adverse  Circumstances. 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Finland  and  its  Cities.  —  The  Steamer  Finland.  —  The  Finns.  — The  Scenery  of  Finland.  — 
Abo.  —  Strange  Contrasts  at  a  Funeral. — Fast  Driving  in  Finland.  —  Helsingfors. — 
The  Fortress. — The  Baron  Nicolai's  Park  of  Mon  Repos. — General  Grant  a  Hero  to 
the  Finnish  Captain.  —  A  Family  of  genuine  Russian  Nobles. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

Russia's  "  Window  into  Europe."  —  The  Building  of  the  City.  —  Its  Site.  —  The  everlasting 
Fear  of  Fire  and  Flood.  —  General  Tour  of  the  City. — Its  Claim  to  Grandeur.  —  A 
suburban  Village.  —  A  curious  Coincidence. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

St.  Petersburg  in  Detail. — Of  what  the  St.  Petersburgians  may  justly  be  Proud.  —  Fortress 
and  Cathedral  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  — Tombs  of  Nicholas,  Peter  the  Great  and  the 
late  Emperor.  —  Impressive  Services. — Tortures  of  Nihilists.  —  Kazan  Cathedral. — 
The  Winter  Palace.  — Queen  Catherine's  quaint  Rules.  — The  Orloff  Diamond. 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

Further  Wonders  of  St.  Petersburg.  —  The  Hermitage.  —  Relics  of  Peter  the  Great.  —  The 
University.  —  The  Academy  of  Arts.  —  The  Mining  School.  —  The  Monasteries  of  Russia. 
—  Monastery  of  St.  Alexander  Nevski.  —  Its  wonderful  Treasures.  —  Monument  of  Sir 
James  Wylie,  and  Barclay  De  Tolly.  — Column  to  Alexander  I. — Equestrian  Statue  of 
Peter  the  Great. 

CHAPTER  XX. 

Still  exploring  St.  Petersburg. — St.  Isaac's  Cathedral. — The  Elements  of  its  Grandeur. — 
Museum  of  Artillery.  —  The  terrible  Flag  of  John  the  Terrible.  —  Peter  the  Great's  Cot- 
tage. —  His  Greatness. 

CHAPTER    XXI. 

St.  Petersburg  and  Vicinity  (concluded). — The  Historical  Museum  of  Imperial  Carriages. — 
The  Carriage  in  which  Alexander  II.  rode  to  his  Death.  — The  Assassination  of  Alexan- 
der II.  —  Subsequent  Proclamation  of  the  Nihilists.  — Stolidity  of  the  Russian  People. — 
Emotion  of  Others.  —  The  funeral  Pageant. 


TABLE  OF   CONTENTS.  vii 

CHAPTER   XXII. 

Into  the  Heart  of  Russia. — The  celebrated  Railroad  to  Moscow.  —  Russian  Railroads  in 
General.  —  War  Tax  upon  Travellers.  —  Different  Languages  spoken. —  Russian  Tea. — 
The  Sources  of  the  Volga.  —  The  New  Jerusalem.  —  Arrival  at  Moscow. 

CHAPTER   XXIII. 

Holy  Moscow.  —  Descri  ption  of  the  Site.  —  Epitome  of  its  History.  —  The  Burning  of  Moscow. 
—  Fate  of  the  French  Army.  —  The  first  Impressions  of  Moscow  perplexing. 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

Holy  Moscow  (continued).  —  Description  of  the  Kremlin.  —  Its  Gates.  —  An  Englishman's 
Humiliation. — One  of  Peter  the  Great's  Whims.  — The  Tower  of  Ivan  the  Great.  —  The 
Great  Bell  of  Moscow.  — The  great  Palace.  — The  Treasury.  — The  Crowns  of  the  Tsars. 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

Holy  Moscow  (concluded). — The  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption.  —  The  Coronation  of  the 
Tsars.  —  Relics  ad  Nauseam.  — The  Burial  Place  of  the  Tsars  prior  to  the  Removal  of 
the  Capital  to  St.  Petersburg.  —  The  holy  Oil.  —  A  Roman  Convent.  —  Peter  the  Great's 
first  Wife.  —  Historic  Cannon. 

CHAPTER   XXVI. 

Moscow  outside  the  Kremlin. — The  Cathedral  of  St.  Basil. — The  largest  Foundling  Hos- 
pital in  the  World.  — The  Sparrow  Hills. 

CHAPTER   XXVII. 

Moscow  outside  the  Kremlin  (continued).  — The  Church  of  St.  Saviour.  — The  Simonoff  Mon- 
astery.—  The  Singing  of  the  Monks. — The  Mohammedan  Mosque.  —  Peter  the  Great's 
great  Sister  Sophia. 

CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

•"The  Canterbury  of  Russia."  —  The  Troitsia  Monastery.  — Description.  —  The  Shrine  of  St. 
Sergius.  —  A  learned  Rector.  —  Splendid  Robes.  —  Exploring  Catacombs.  —  Appearance 
of  the  Monks.  —  Excess  of  Dirt. 

CHAPTER   XXIX. 

The  great  Fair  at  Nijni-Novgorod.  —  Route  from  Moscow.  —  The  Confluence  of  the  Volga  and 
the  Oka.  —  Boating  on  the  Volga.  — Sermon  by  an  Archimandrite.  — Another  Mosque.  — 
The  Armenian  Church. 

CHAPTER   XXX. 

Nijni-Novgorod  (continued). — Unsatisfactory  Accommodations.  —  The  Fairs  held  at  Nijni- 
Novgorod. —  The  great  Fair.  —  Possible  pedestrian  Tour  to  the  United  States. 


TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

Unhappy  Poland.  —  From  Moscow  to  Warsaw.  —  An  amusing  Scene.  —  Accidental  Meeting 
of  Americans.  — Scenery  in  the  Vicinity  of  Smolensk. —  Warsaw. 

CHAPTER   XXXII. 

Unhappy  Poland  (continued).  —  Statue  of  Copernicus.  — Visit  to  a  Polish  Criminal  Court.  — 
Jews  in  Warsaw.  —  The  Citadel.  —  Outline  of  Polish  History.  —  Reminiscence  of  a  Debate 
in  the  House  of  Lords  on  Russia's  Oppression  of  Poland.  —  Lord  Brougham's  Reference 
to  the  American  Civil  War. 

CHAPTER   XXXIII. 

Peculiarities  of  Russian  Territory  and  Climate.  —  Russia  practically  without  Mountains.  —  Its 
Dryness.  —  Its  great  Rivers.  —  Its  Forests,  Marshes,  and  Steppes.  —  Russia's  Tendency 
to  Emigration. 

CHAPTER   XXXIV. 

Peculiarities  of  Russian  Life. — Russian  Dates  twelve  Days  behind  the  Rest  of  Europe. — 
The  Russian  Language.  —  Specimens  of  the  Alphabet.  —  The  Facility  of  the  Russians  as 
Linguists.  —  The  Morality  of  Russians.  —  Respect  paid  to  Funerals. 

CHAPTER   XXXV. 

The  Poetry  of  the  common  People.  —  Personification  of  Sorrow.  —  Song  of  an  ancient  Free- 
booter. —  Wailings  of  a  young  Soldier.  — The  Grief  of  a  lovesick  Maiden.  —  Disparaging 
the  Tears  of  a  Wife.  —  Dramatic  Song  involving  Mother-in-law.  —  Wife-beating  essential 
to  domestic  Happiness. 

CHAPTER   XXXVI. 

The  Russo-Greek  Church.  —  Points  of  Difference  between  it  and  Roman  Catholicism.  —  De- 
scription of  Russian  Churches.  —  Religious  Habits  of  the  Russians. —  Pictures.  —  Extra- 
ordinary choral  Music.  —  Devotional  Aspect  of  the  Worshippers.  —  Low  Morality  of  the 
Priests.  —  Account  of  an  Easter  Scene  in  Moscow.  —  Blessing  the  Neva.  —  Vladimir's 
Reason  for  introducing  the  Greek  Form  of  Christianity. 

CHAPTER   XXXVII. 

Striking  Ceremonies.  —  At  Birth  and  Baptism.  —  Laws  and  Ceremonies  of  Marriage  —  Impor- 
tance of  the  public  Betrothal.  —  Marriage  a  Coronation.  —  The  most  elaborate  and  solemn 
funeral  Services  in  the  World. 

CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 

v 

Dissenting  Sects  in  Russia.  —  Number  of  Sects.  —  Most  numerous  dating  from  the  Time  of 
Peter  the  Great.  —  The  Molokani.  —  The  Jumpers.  —  The  two  great  Divisions  of  Dissent- 
ers. —  Religious  Intolerance.  —  The  Expulsion  from  the  Country  of  two  Protestant  Russian 
Nobles.  —  Publication  Monopoly  of  the  holy  Synod.  —  Perplexities  of  the  British  and  For- 
eign Bible  Society.  —  The  Church  the  chief  Support  of  the  Empire. 


TABLE   OF    CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

The  Jews  in  Russia.  —  Condition  of  the  Jews  in  the  Middle  Ages.  —  Their  History  in  Russia. 
Their  Embarrassments.  —  Their  Prosperity  in  Spite  of  all.  —  Dealings  of  the  Jews  with 
the  average  Russian  Population.  —  Causes  of  Riots.  —  Different  Sorts  of  Jews. 

CHAPTER   XL. 

Nihilism.  —  Interest  of  the  Subject.  —  Difficulty  of  investigating  it  —  Conversation  with  Trav- 
ellers.—  Fortunate  Accidents.  —  Sketch  of  Russian  History  down  to  the  Emancipation  of 
the  Serfs. 

CHAPTER   XLI. 

Nihilism  (continued).  —  From  what  Classes  are  the  Nihilists  recruited  ?  —  Nobility.  —  Army. 

—  Students.  — Jews.  — Dissenters.  — The  Peasantry.  — A  Comparison  of  two  Trials  of 
Nihilists. 

CHAPTER   XLII. 

Nihilism  (continued).  —  Probable  Number  of  Nihilists.  —  Confession  of  Goldenberg.  —  Nihi- 
lists' Methods  of  Working.  —  Government  Methods  of  suppressing  Nihilism.  —  Various 
Encounters  with  Officials. 

CHAPTER   XLIII. 

Nihilism  (concluded).  —  Secrecy  of  the  Police.  —  Espionage  after  Acquittal.  —  Ingenuity  of  the 
Russian  Police.  —  Instability  of  the  Russian  Character.  —  Effect  of  the  Nihilist  Conspir- 
acies thus  far.  — Oppressions  of  which  the  Nihilists  often  complain  caused  by  their  own 
Conduct. — Disastrous  Effects  of  the  Assassination  of  Alexander  II. — The  Present  a 
Period  of  Reaction  in  Russia.  —  No  Hope  for  Russia  from  Nihilist  Conspiracies. 

CHAPTER   XLIV. 

Contrast  between  Russia  and  the  United  States.  —  Religious  Freedom. — Condition  of  the 
People.  —  Power  of  Public  Opinion.  —  Censorship  of  the  Press.  —  Mercantile  Honor. 

—  Writ  of  Habeas  Corpus.  —  Expression  of  Dissatisfaction.  —  Law  of  Primogeniture.  — 
Effects  of  Emancipation.  — Circulation  of  Newspapers.  —  Conclusion. 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE 

SWEDISH  LAPLANDERS Frontispiece. 

COPENHAGEN 19 

THE  CASTLE  OF  ELSINORE 22 

VIEW  OF  GOTHENBURG 25 

BEAUTIFUL  CHRISTIANIA 33 

THE  STORTHINGS-HUS 35 

THE  VIKING'S  SHIP 39 

LAKE  MJESEN  AND  THE  RUINS  OF  HAMAR  CATHEDRAI 45 

TRONDHJEM,  THE  ANCIENT  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY 48 

ST.  OLAF'S  CATHEDRAL 51 

TORGHAETTA  FROM  THE  EAST 56 

A  NORWEGIAN  FISHING  VESSEL 58 

THE  NATURAL  TUNNEL  THROUGH  TORGHAETTEN 59 

THE  SEVEN  SISTERS 60 

THE  HESTEMANS 61 

ON  THE  EDGE  OF  THE  SVARTISEN  GLACIER 63 

A  PINNACLE  OF  THE  SVARTISEN  GLACIER 64 

VIEW  OF  THE  LOFODENS 66 

THE  LOFODENS 70 

A  FISHING  BOAT 71 

TROMSOE 78 

LAPP  HUT 81 

HERD  OF  REINDEER  IN  LAPLAND 83 

LAPP  CRADLE 85 

LAPP  WOMAN 86 

A  TYPE  OF  LAPP 87 

GROUP  OF  LAPPS 88 

A  WATERFALL 91 

HAMMERFEST  HARBOR 95 

THE  MERIDIAN  PILLAR 96 

VIEW  OF  THE  COAST 99 

VIEW  FROM  SUMMIT  OF  NORTH  CAPE 105 

THE  NORTH  CAPE 107 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS.  xi 

PAGE 

COLUMN  OF  OSCAR  II.          ............  108 

MIDNIGHT  SUN in 

UPSALA  CATHEDRAL 117 

THE  CASTLE  AT  UPSALA 120 

GENERAL  VIEW  OF  STOCKHOLM 123 

A  NORWEGIAN  PEASANT'S  HOME 132 

A  NORWEGIAN  CHURCH  PORCH 135 

VIEW  OF  ABO  FROM  THE  HARBOR .  139 

CRONSTADT  HARBOR 143 

FINNISH  DROSKY 146 

VIEW  IN  ST.  PETERSBURG 151 

THE  NEVSKI  PROSPECT 155 

BRIDGE  ACROSS  THE  NEVA 159 

CHURCH  OF  PETER  AND  PAUL  IN  FORTRESS 163 

KAZAN  CATHEDRAI 167 

THE  WINTER  PALACE 169 

ALEXANDRIAN  COLUMN 177 

STATUE  OF  THE  EMPEROR  NICHOLAS 179 

PETERHOF  AND  THE  FOUNTAINS 181 

ANOTHER  VIEW  OF  PETERHOF 183 

INTERIOR  OF  ST.  ISAAC'S  CATHEDRAL 185 

PETER  THE  GREAT'S  COTTAGE 189 

ALEXANDER  II.  LYING  IN  STATE 195 

VIEW  IN  Moscow 2ii 

ST.  NICHOLAS  GATE 221 

RED  GATE 225 

KREMLIN 229 

CHURCH  IN  Moscow 235 

THE  GREAT  BELL 240 

CHURCH  OF  VASILI  THE  BLESSED 245 

THE  MONASTERY  OF  ST.  SERGIUS 259 

NIJNI-NOVGOROD 269 

VIEW  IN  WARSAW 277 

LAZIENSKI  PARK   ..." 287 

CLERGY  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  CHURCH 311 

CHURCH  MARRIAGE  CEREMONY 321 

RUSSIAN  VILLAGE 339 

ALEXANDER  II 349 

A  CONVICT  TRAIN ...  359 


THE  TSAR  AND  THE  NIHILIST. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE    CAPITAL    OF    DENMARK. 

THE  travels  in  Norway,  Sweden  and  Russia  in  Europe  described  in 
these  pages  may  be  said  to  have  begun  at  Copenhagen,  the  capital 
and  only  large  city  of  Denmark.  For,  though  the  journey  commenced 
when  the  steamer  Baltic  left  its  pier  in  the  city  of  New  York  on  the 
1 9th  of  June,  1884,  and  included  Liverpool,  London,  Holland,  Cologne, 
the  Rhine,  Frankfort-on-the-Main,  Dresden,  Berlin  and  Hamburg,  it 
was  from  Copenhagen  that  our  party,  consisting  of  a  personal  friend  — 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Hendrickson,  an  American  lawyer  —  my  son,  a  young 
man  of  eighteen  years,  and  myself,  sailed  for  Sweden. 

The  stay  in  Copenhagen  had  been  made  pleasant  by  our  having  as 
guide  and  interpreter  the  Rev.  Carl  Schou,  a  clergyman  of  Copen- 
hagen. Between  the  professional  guide  and  the  intelligent,  well-read 
native  of  a  country,  the  difference  is  very  great.  The  former  is  a  useful 
parrot ;  the  latter,  a  genial  companion. 

Mr.  Schou's  first  question,  when  he  placed  his  time  at  our  disposal, 
was,  "Where  will  you  go?"  The  reply  was,  "Where  we  can  see  that 
which  is  most  interesting  and  will  be  most  valuable  to  remember." 
He  suggested,  as  of  the  greatest  interest,  the  Thorwaldsen  Museum, 
the  Fruekirke  (Church  of  our  Lady),  the  Museum  of  Northern  An- 
tiquities, and  the  Rosenborg  Palace.  To  these  we  devoted  all  the  time 
at  our  disposal ;  but  in  sketching  them  I  must  use  a  very  wide  brush. 

'3 


14  THE  CAPITAL  OF    DENMARK. 

The  "  Church  of  our  Lady  "  is  the  Metropolitan  Church  of  Denmark. 
Its  external  beauty  is  not  great,  nor  its  internal  finish  extraordinarily 
fine ;  but  in  its  naked  simplicity  it  is  churchly  in  the  best  sense.  Its 
great  and  unparalleled  attraction  consists  of  "exquisite  marble  statuary." 
In  front,  above  the  altar,  is  Thorwaldsen's  Risen  Christ.  This 
figure,  larger  than  life,  surpasses  in  majesty  any  painting,  or  other 
representation  in  sculpture,  of  its  subject.  It  has  nothing  of  the  femi- 
nine expression  which  marks  and  mars  most  representations  of  "  the 
man  Christ  Jesus."  Yet  with  masculine  strength  and  commanding 
mien,  there  is  blended  an  ineffable  tenderness  which  shows  him  not  a 
woman,  but  more  tender  than  any  woman  ever  was.  Those  who  gaze 
can  fancy  him  on  whom  they  look,  both  as  weeping  at  the  grave  with 
the  sisters,  and  as  driving  the  money-changers  from  the  temple. 

The  statues  of  the  Twelve  Apostles  occupy  both  sides  of  the  church. 
They  are  larger  than  life ;  and  were  designed,  and  most  of  them 
executed,  by  Thorwaldsen.  St.  Paul,  which  is  known  to  have  been 
entirely  executed  by  him,  is  said  to  be  the  finest.  The  critics  place 
John,  James,  Matthew  and  Thomas,  in  the  order  named,  next  to  Paul. 

An  hour  was  spent  in  the  "  Church  of  our  Lady,"  and  the  effect 
of  the  contemplation  of  those  marble  statues  in  the  "  dim  religious 
light  "  was  somewhat  sombre.  This  depressing  influence  was  antago- 
nized by  recalling  the  more  cheerful  scenes  in  which  Christ  and  his 
apostles  mingled. 

The  Thorwaldsen  Museum,  according  to  our  guide's  plan,  came  next 
in  order,  and  though  the  building  is  gloomy,  after  the  style  of  ancient 
tombs,  when  one  has  gone  through  it,  and  noted  well  its  contents,  its 
adaptation  to  its  use  can  be  questioned  no  longer.  Here  we  see,  cover- 
ing the  interior  on  three  sides,  scenes  in  plaster  depicting  the  reception 
of  the  Master  on  his  return  to  his  native  city  after  nearly  twenty  years' 
absence. 

Here  also  are  admirably  displayed  a  great  number  of  his  models  — 
designs  in  plaster  —  with  many  completed  works  in  marble.  A  pain- 
ful interest  attaches  to  his  own  collection  of  pictures,  to  the  books  and 


THE  CAPITAL  OF  DENMARK.  15 

antiquities  which  were  his,  and  to  the  articles  of  furniture,  writing 
materials,  and  implements  of  sculpture  which  he  used.  These  are  all 
as  he  left  them. 

In  the  centre  stands  his  grave.  There,  alone,  cold  as  the  marble 
upon  which  he  worked,  lies  the  greatest  sculptor  of  the  present  cent- 
ury—  one  of  the  greatest  of  all  time  —  amid  the  creations  of  his 
genius.  It  would  be  easy  to  read  his  history  in  the  order  in  which 
his  works  are  arranged.  Denmark,  and  especially  Copenhagen,  has 
reason  to  be  proud  of  him  ;  and  to  bury  him  amid  his  contributions  to 
Art  is  a,  conception  worthy  of  him  and  them. 

The  Museum  of  Northern  Antiquities  —  unsurpassed,  the  scientists 
say,  by  any,  equalled  only  by  that  at  Stockholm  —  consists  of  forty 
thousand  tools,  musical  instruments,  domestic  utensils,  weapons  of  war, 
furniture,  armor,  hunting  accoutrements,  ancient  chests,  mechanical 
implements,  tombstones,  tombs,  urns  used  to  contain  ashes  of  the  dead, 
coffins,  vessels  used  in  churches,  inscriptions,  etc.  In  some  of  the 
coffins  are  dead  bodies  in  a  mummified  state. 

The  peculiar  charm  of  this  museum  is  that  the  specimens  are  arranged 
according  to  a  'method  so  lucid  that  it  is  easy  for  the  visitor  to  com- 
prehend fully  what  they  teach.  This  enables  him  to  economize  greatly 
in  time  and  strength.  The  catalogue  clearly  explains  the  method. 
All  the  objects  are  in  five  departments :  the  Flint,  the  Bronze,  the 
Iron,  the  Mediaeval  Christian,  and  the  Modern  Periods. 

The  Flint  comes  down  to  the  year  1500  B.  c.,  and  consists  of  battle 
refuse,  bones,  shells,  etc.,  found  on  the  coast ;  the  Bronze  includes  the 
next  1250  years,  and  is  shown  by  weapons  and  trinkets  and  ornaments, 
which  are  all  cast ;  the  Iron  comes  down  far  into  the  Christian  era,  and 
specimens  are  abundant.  The  Mediaeval  Christian  period  begins  in  1030 
and  comes  down  to  1536,  and  includes  chiefly  weapons  and  Roman  Cath- 
olic vestments,  sacred  vessels,  inscriptions,  etc.  The'  Modern  Period 
needs  no  characterization.  So  perfect  is  the  arrangement  that  it  would 
not  be  difficult  to  fancy  one  man,  six  thousand  years  old  or  more,  passing 
through  all  these  periods  and  acquiring  and  casting  off  these  successive 


16  THE.  CAPITAL   OF    DENMARK. 

arts  and  sciences.  The  unity  and  progress  of  Humanity  are  thu's  im- 
pressively displayed. 

The  Rosenborg  Palace,  three  hundred  and  eighty  years  old,  appears 
to  advantage  from  the  manner  in  which  its  contents  are  shown  and 
explained  to  visitors.  An  hour  must  be  appointed  for  each  party. 
Thoroughly  cultured  gentlemen,  above  fees,  and  speaking  the  language  of 
the  visitors,  accompany  them  through  the  different  halls,  pointing  out 
and  describing  in  an  animated  manner  the  epochs  of  the  monarchs  who 
have  occupied  the  palace,  illustrating  their  discourses  by  reference  to 
the  jewels,  coronation  robes,  crowns,  uniforms,  by  rooms  fitted  up  in  the 
styles  of  different  periods,  by  portraits,  relics  of  all  periods,  and  curiosi- 
ties of  every  grade. 

Some  of  the  paintings  are  very  fine.  Among  them  is  one  of  a  Nor- 
wegian who  lived  to  be  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  years  old.  Wishing 
to  marry  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  twelve,  tradition  says  that  the 
following  conversation  occurred  between  the  legal  registrar  and  himself. 
"What  is  your  age?"  "One  hundred  and  twelve,"  he  replied.  This 
was  received  with  a  burst  of  laughter  and  the  satirical  question,  "  How 
long  had  your  parents  been  dead  when  you  were  born  ?  "  In  rage  he  left 
the  office,  walked  to  Bergen,  Norway,  so  far  as  land  travel  was  necessary 
to  reach  the  place,  and  having  procured  the  certificate  of  his  baptism, 
walked  back  and  was  married.  Human  nature  even  in  extreme  age  is 
sometimes  unreliable,  for  the  same  tradition  which  reports  these  alleged 
facts  to  the  present  generation  declares  that  he  was  not  a  true  and  faith- 
ful husband,  and  was  brought  before  the  civil  authorities  for  cruelty  to 
his  wife,  and  neglecting  her  society  for  that  of  other  women. 

A  Danish  gentleman  to  whom  I  was  subsequently  introduced,  and  gave 
an  account  of  my  visit  to  the  Museum  of  Antiquities  and  the  Rosenbo-rg 
Palace,  remarked  that  the  Museum  furnishes  the  visitor  with  landmarks 
of  the  development  of  the  people  of  Denmark  as  a  whole,  while  the 
Rosenborg  Palace  contains  illustrations  of  the  progress  of  culture  among 
the  higher  classes. 

Religious  missions,  having  their  origin  under  very  romantic  circum- 


THE    CAPITAL   OF    DENMARK.  17 

stances  in  the  United  States,  have  been  established  in  Denmark.  A  large 
number  of  Danes  had  come  to  the  United  States  in  the  thirty  years  pre- 
ceding 1879.  According  to  the  report  of  the  commissioners  of  immi- 
gration, not  counting  sailors,  thirty-two  thousand  nine  hundred  and 
seventy-four  immigrants  from  Denmark  had  arrived  at  the  port  of  New 
York  alone.  A  Bethel  ship  was  established  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
where  Swedes,  Norwegians  and  Danes  —  strangers  in  a  strange  land  —  in 
large  numbers  assembled.  The  ship,  as  a  writer  on  the  subject  observes, 
"  became  an  asylum  for  destitute  emigrants,  supplying  for  them  at  once 
bed,  table,  clothing  and  sanctuary.  It  was  a  labor  exchange  for  hun- 
dreds." In  the  course  of  a  few  years  the  number  of  Scandinavian  con- 
verts in  the  United  States  amounted  to  several  thousands,  who  were 
chiefly  Norwegians  and  Swedes.  These  persons  wrote  home  to  their 
friends  who  were  connected  with  the  State  churches,  giving  an  account 
of  the  new  views  of  religion  which  they  had  adopted.  They  wrote  with 
all  the  enthusiasm  of  new  converts,  and  the  effect  was  to  stimulate 
inquiry  about  this  new  form  of  religion  ;  while  many  of  the  persons  who 
wrote  the  letters  were  not  content  with  doing  that,  but  went  themselves 
to  the  Fatherland  and  told  the  story.  Thus  originated  societies  in 
Norway  and  Sweden,  and  also  in  Denmark. 

Many  of  the  Danes  in  the  United  States  have  become  prosperous, 
notably  the  late  Harold  Dollner  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  who,  though  he  was 
long  in  business  in  the  city  of  New  York  where  he  accumulated  a  for- 
tune, never  renounced  his  Danish  citizenship,  and  was  Consul-General 
of  the  Danish  Empire  for  many  years,  and  was  made  a  Baron  by  the 
Emperor.  He  was  a  native  of  Copenhagen,  and  had  identified  himself 
in  this  country  with  the  Methodists.  These  prosperous  Danes  took 
great  interest  in  the  support  of  their  sentiments  in  Denmark.  Mr.  Doll- 
ner gave  for  church  building  purposes,  one  thousand  dollars  annually  for 
many  years,  besides  contributing  large  sums  to  the  support  of  mission- 
aries. It  is  to  his  courtesy  in  furnishing  me  with  letters  and  writings 
to  his  friends,  that  I  am  indebted  for  the  unusual  facilities  received 
while  in  Denmark.  A  very  large  church  in  Denmark  is  owned  by  soci- 


i8  THE    CAPITAL    OF    DENMARK. 

eties  which  originated  in  the  way  described,  and  there  are  churches  in 
eleven  cities  and  towns,  with  sixty  preaching  stations  in  the  country. 
The  general  property  of  the  society  is  valued  at  nearly  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars,  and  its  schools  contain  many  hundreds  of  scholars. 
Within  the  last  seven  years  the  number  of  communicants  has  doubled, 
and  the  foundation  is  such  as  to  insure  its  permanency.  It  derived 
great  advantage  from  the  fact  that  the  Hon.  M.  J.  Cramer,  Minister- 
Resident  of  the  United  States,  lived  for  many  years  in  Copenhagen. 

Whatever  may  be  the  general  effect  of  this  movement,  its  influence 
upon  the  State  Church  has  been  remarkable,  awakening  it  to  greater 
activity.  Fifteen  years  ago  there  were  but  two  Sunday  schools  in 
Copenhagen  ;  at  the  time  of  my  visit  there  were  thirty. 

The  foregoing  partial  account  of  Copenhagen  has  been  introduced  in 
the  hope  of  gratifying  to  some  extent,  a  rational  curiosity  which  would 
arise  from  the  mention  of  the  name  of  the  city  whence  we  set  out  for 
Sweden. 


w 

I   2 
- 


3 


CHAPTER    IT. 

ENTERING    SWEDEN    AT    GOTHENBURG. 

HAVING  remained  in  Denmark  as  long  as  its  relation  to  the 
general  plan  would  allow,  but  not  so  long  as  its  interest  would 
have  warranted,  we  set  sail  from  Copenhagen  for  Gothenburg,  Sweden. 
The  voyage  took  us  through  the  Sound  upon  which  the  Danish  capital 
is  situated,  into  the  Kattegat.  An  old  acquaintance,  Captain  Muliertz, 
of  the  Danish  Army,  came  down  to  see  us  embark.  I  had  met  the 
captain,  when,  by  order  of  his  Government,  he  was  spending  two  years 
in  New  York  studying  American  military  method's.  The  meetings 
were  on  two  very  interesting  occasions  —  his  wedding,  his  bride  having 
come  over  from  Denmark  to  be  married,  and  the  christening  of  their 
child  (now  a  young  lady).  Both  these  occurred  at  the  residence  of  the 
Baron  Dollner,  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

At  the  christening  a  circumstance  occurred  which  illustrates  the 
genuinely  poetic  nature  of  the  Danish  people.  The  Danish  officers, 
of  whom  there  were  a  number  then  in  the  city  of  New  York,  were 
present,  and  the  services  were  conducted  by  a  clergyman  of  the  State 
Church  of  Denmark,  and  were  in  Danish.  Just  before  they  began,  Mr. 
Dollner  placed  upon  the  table  a  large  pot  containing  a  plant  upon 
which  was  a  beautiful  flower.  "  One  year  ago,"  said  he,  "  I  planted  a 
slip  in  this  pot ;  behold  how  it  has  increased ! "  Then  the  nurse  ap- 
peared bearing  the  infant  that  was  to  be  baptized.  "One  year  ago," 
said  Mr.  Dollner,  "Captain  Muliertz  and  his  bride  were  married;"  then 
pointing  to  the  babe,  "behold  how  they  have  increased  ! " 

The  Rev.  Karl  Schou  was  also  on  the  pier.  Sympathy  was  expressed 
for  us,  as  the  vessel  was  very  small,  and  the  Kattegat  is  proverbially 
treacherous. 

The  passage  through  the   Kallebostrom    and   the   Sound  revealed  a 

21 


22 


ENTERING   SWEDEN    AT   GOTHENBURG. 


scene  of  extraordinary  beauty.  Besides  several  islands,  charming  vil 
lages  and  country  seats  could  be  seen  on  the  mainland  of  Zealand, 
not  only  near  the  shore,  but,  owing  to  the  undulating  character  of  the 
land,  at  intervals  for  several  miles  back.  The  scene  became  still  more 
lovely  as  we  drew  near  Elsinore.  This  town  is  opposite  Helsingborg 
in  Sweden,  and  the  sh'ores  approach  so  near  that  Elsinore,  under  ordinary 


THE    CASTLE    OK    ELSINOKE. 


circumstances,  has  always  commanded  the  Sound,  and  until  the  last 
twenty-seven  years,  all  vessels  passing  paid  a  toll.  The  harbor  is 
beautiful  for  situation.  My  son  counted  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
four  vessels  lying  at  anchor  in  various  relations  to  each  other  and  to 
the  land.  As  the  hour  was  sunset,  and  the  moon  just  rising,  the 
picture  was  "very  pleasant  and  lovely  to  behold."  Above  the  town 
rises  the  Castle  Kronborg  in  the  midst  of  strong  fortifications. 

Here  we  came  upon  ground   which   Shakespeare  has  made  classic. 


ENTERING   SWEDEN    AT   GOTHENBURG.  23 

Not  far  from  Kronborg,  and  visible  from  the  deck  of  our  steamer, 
is  an  ancient  palace,  Marienlyst,  and  in  the  grounds  adjacent  to  it  is 
a  lonely  grave  surmounted  by  a  pile  of  stones  and  a  small  column. 
Tradition  makes  this  the  tomb  of  Hamlet.  It  was  at  the  Castle  of 
Elsinore  that  the  ghost  of  Hamlet's  father  appeared  to  him,  and  also 
to  the  soldiers  on  guard.  The  Flag  Battery  is  the  "  platform,"  where 
Hamlet  exclaimed,  as  the  vision  appeared  : 

Angels  and  ministers  of  grace,  defend  us  ! 

Be  thou  a  spirit  of  health  or  goblin  damned, 

Bring  with  thee  airs  from  heaven  or  blasts  from  hell 

Be  thy  intents  wicked  or  charitable, 

Thou  comest  in  such  questionable  shape, 

That  I  will  speak  to  thee :  I'll  call  thee  Hamlet, 

King,  father,  royal  Dane:  etc. 

"  How  are  the  mighty  fallen ! "  The  palace  is  a  hotel,  and  the 
melancholy  Dane, 

.     .     .     dead  and  turned  to  clay, 
Might  stop  a  hole  to  keep  the  wind  away. 

Taking  leave  of  Elsinore,  with  its  legends  of  early  Danish  exploits 
and  events,  we  entered  the  Kattegat  (literally  the  cat's  throat), 
but  on  this  occasion  it  was  as  quiet  as  a  family  cat  asleep  upon  a  rug 
before  the  fire.  There  was  not  a  cloud  in  the  sky,  a  tremor  in  the  air, 
nor  a  wave  upon  the  sea.  Except  for  the '  noise  and  breath  and 
ripple  made  by  our  vessel  and  others  that  now  and  then  came  near  us, 
all  was  as  quiet  as  "a  painted  ocean."  It  was  a  good  night  for  sleep, 
though  it  was  hard  to  dungeon  one's  self  in  the  narrow  stateroom  and 
close  the  eyes  upon  so  much  beauty. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  rocky  shores  of  Sweden  were  seen,  and 
we  skirted  them  for  several  hours,  until  the  imposing  harbor  of  Gothen- 
burg opened  before  us.  Much  amusement  was  found  for  more  than  an 
hour  in  conjecturing  what  the  course  of  the  ship  would  be  after  the  next 
turn.  In  most  cases  the  guess  was  wrong,  for  the  rocky  shore  would 
close  here  and  open  there,  debarring  us  where  a  passage  was  expected, 
and  making  a  way  where  all  seemed  impassable.  The  harbor  is  rocky, 
the  hills  stern  and  bare,  and  the  aspect  not  winning. 


24  ENTERI'NG  SWEDEN  AT  GOTHENBURG. 

An  incident  happened  which  roused  much  enthusiasm  among  the 
Americans  on  board  (all  included  in  our  little  party).  About  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  below  the  wharf  we  saw  displayed  a  large,  new,  and  very 
bright  American  flag.  It  rose  above  a  cottage  a  little  distance  from 
the  shore.  Who,  we  thought,  so  far  from  America,  will  float  the  star- 
spangled  banner  ? 

The  poetry  was  dissipated  when  we  learned  afterwards  that  the  flag 
floated  over  the  abode  of  one  of  the  agents  of  a  line  of  steamers 
engaged  in  sharp  competition  for  emigrants  to  the  United  States.  Not 
love  of  country,  but  of  gain,  was  the  ruling  motive,  as  it  too  often  is  at 
home. 

Gothenburg  is  a  very  enterprising  manufacturing  and  commercial 
town,  having  a  population  of  about  one  hundred  thousand.  It  dates  only 
from  1621,  and  was  founded  by  Gustavus  Adolphus,  to  whom  a  fine 
monument  has  been  erected  in  the  square.  Of  ancient  buildings  there 
are  none,  nor  are  there  museums  and  galleries  of  art  worthy  of  compari- 
son with  those  in  older  and  larger  centres.  Some  collections  have  been 
begun  which,  in  time,  will  attract  attention.  Its  business  enterprises 
and  establishments  are  on  a  large  scale,  and  the  city  is  famous  through- 
out Europe  for  its  wealth  and  liberality.  Most  of  its  leading  merchants 
and  manufacturers  are  Scotch  and  German,  many  of  them  being  of  the 
second  and  third  generation.  In  its  earlier  period  many  Dutch  mer- 
chants and  ship-owners  settled  there.  They  have  left  their  impress  in 
the  canals,  which  cause  the  city  to  resemble  a  miniature  Venice.  A 
short  distance  from  the  city  are  the  residences  of  merchants,  some  of 
which  are,  with  their  surrounding  parks  and  gardens,  on  a  palatial  scale. 

On  the  first  morning,  after  breakfast,  one  of  our  party  inquired  for  an 
English  or  American  paper.  A  gentleman  sitting  near,  catching  the 
sound  of  the  English  tongue,  said,  "  Are  you  Americans,  gentlemen  ?  " 
We  responded  in  the  affirmative.  Said  he,  "Permit  me  to  introduce 
myself.  I  am  the  American  Consul.  My  name  is  Cooper."  From  that 
time  till  we  left  the  city  all  that  he  could  do,  out  of  business  hours,  was 
done  in  the  way  of  communicating  valuable  information,  suggesting 


ENTERING   SWEDEN    AT    GOTHENBURG.  25 

excursions  and  points  of  interest  for  inquiry.  This  shows  how  a  consul 
who  is  also  a  gentleman,  and  whose  official  duties  will  allow,  may  serve 
his  fellow  citizens  in  foreign  lands.  But  the  greatest  favor  he  conferred 
upon  us  was  to  introduce  us  to  Mrs.  Cooper,  whose  accomplishments 
make  her  the  equal  of  any  of  the  ladies  of  other  lands  with  whom  official 
life  abroad  brings  her  in  contact,  without  destroying  or  concealing  the 
American  element  which,  on  the  authority  of  Lord  Coleridge  and 


VIEW  OF    GOTHENBURG. 


Matthew   Arnold,  when    refined,    makes   the   most   attractive   form   of 
womanhood. 

At  the  office  of  the  Consul  I  met  the  Vice-Consul,  who  has  the  great 
honor  of  being  the  first  Baptist  in  Sweden.  Migrating  to  America,  he 
was  converted  and  baptized  in  New  York,  married  the  minister's  daughter, 
and  returned  to  Sweden.  Now  there  are  more  than  twenty-five  thou- 
sand Baptists  in  Sweden.  From  him  I  derived  much  valuable  information 
concerning  his  countrymen  in  the  United  States,  and  recent  religious, 
social,  moral,  and  intellectual  progress  in  Sweden.  Nor  was  he  ignorant 
of  its  commercial  interests,  present  condition  and  expectations. 


26  ENTERING   SWEDEN    AT   GOTHENBURG. 

On  Sunday  we  visited  a  Swedish  church.  This  also  belonged  to  an 
American  society.  A  vigorous  sermon  was  being  delivered  to  an 
audience  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  attentive  listeners.  The  speaker  in 
the  management  of  his  voice  was  a  natural  orator  of  the  highest  type. 
To  us,  he  was  nothing  but  a  voice ;  he  spoke  in  an  unknown  tongue,  but 
in  inflection  and  modulation,  I  have  heard  few  superior  to  him.  The 
Swedes  are  fine  singers,  and  the  singing  which  we  heard  at  one  of  the 
Sunday  schools  was  sweet  as  evening  bells.  In  the  various  churches 
which  we  attended  at  Gothenburg,  the  attitude,  and  apparently  the 
spirit  of  the  people,  was  very  devout.  Their  social  character  appeared  at 
the  close  of  the  services,  when  they  greeted  each  other  as  though  they 
had  been  separated  for  many  years. 

Gothenburg  is  a  very  handsome  city.  The  Exchange  is  the  most 
striking  edifice,  and  is  in  the  Renaissance  style,  and  about  forty  years  old. 
The  statue  which  the  city  contains  of  Gustavus  Adolphus  was  designed 
by  Fogelberg,  but  is  the  second  cast  from  the  same  model.  The  orig- 
inal is  now  in  Bremen.  It  was  wrecked  when  on  the  voyage  from 
Hamburg  to  Gothenburg.  Certain  sailors  recovered  it,  and  they  claimed 
"  so  exorbitant  a  sum  for  salvage  that  the  Gothenburgers  refused  to  pay 
it,  and  preferred  ordering  the  statue  to  be  executed  anew,  which  was 
done  in  1854."  The  chief  park  is  very  beautiful,  and  in  it  is  a  most 
remarkable  collection  of  exotics,  some  of  which  are  from  tropical 
countries.  In  the  suburbs  are  very  many  handsome  residences,  the 
most  frequently  visited  of  which  is  the  villa  of  Oscar  Dickson,  one  of  the 
most  distinguished  citizens,  who  is  famous  for  his  interest  in  Arctic 
expeditions,  and  in  all  the  philanthropic  movements  which  have  made 
Gothenburg  celebrated. 

A  long  walk  with  Consul  Cooper  to  an  ancient  Swedish  church  in 
which  for  hundreds  of  years  the  inhabitants  have  been  buried,  made  a 
pleasant  detour. 

The  people  of  Gothenburg  spare  no  expense  to  accomplish  anything 
which  will  beautify  their  city.  They  transplanted  at  great  cost  large 
numbers  of  trees,  some  of  which  were  over  a  hundred  years  old,  from  the 


ENTERING    SWEDEN    AT    GOTHENBURG.  27 

old  cemetery  to  the  new ;  and  in  this  way  have  produced  the  effect  of 
antiquity  where  it  does  not  exist.  I  have  visited  few  cities,  either  in 
Europe  or  America,  where  so  many  evidences  of  public  spirit  appear. 

One  of  the  chief  reasons  which  led  me  to  remain  in  Gothenburg  so 
long  as  I  did,  was  that  I  might  examine  the  famous  "  Gothenburg 
System,"  and  inquire  into  its  workings  on  the  ground. 

U.  S.  Consul  Cooper  introduced  me  to  Mr.  Rubenson,  the  city  editor 
of  the  leading  daily  paper  of  Gothenburg.  This  gentleman  has  travelled 
in  America,  and  speaks  English. 

No  country  had  suffered  more  from  the  unrestricted  manufacture,  sale, 
and  use  of  brandy  than  Sweden.  All  through  the  country  there  was  well- 
nigh  "a  public  house  in  every  cottage."  Their  "branverin,"  a  powerful 
spirit  distilled  from  potatoes  or  corn,  and  containing  fifty  per  cent,  of 
alcohol,  was  drank  in  large  quantities.  "  Every  land-holder,  almost  with- 
out exception,  possessed  the  right  of  distilling."  So  terrible  were  the 
effects  that  in  1854  new  laws  were  passed,  abolishing  stills  for  domestic 
use,  taxing  the  large  distilleries,  placing  them  under  special  supervision, 
leaving  the  wholesale  traffic  free,  but  dividing  the  retail  and  public- 
house  traffic,  and  giving  the  communes  power  to  regulate,  or  even 
abolish  it.  This  helped  the  cause  of  temperance  in  the  country,  but 
harmed  it  in  large  towns  and  cities.  They  filled  up  with  country 
people  who  would  have  liquor  —  moderate  drinkers  and  drunkards — and 
with  reckless  young  men.  In  towns  the  law  was  a  failure.  It  was  so 
in  Gothenburg,  which,  with  thirty-five  thousand  population  in  1856,  had 
one  hundred  and  thirty-five  licensed  brandy  shops.  The  chief  part  of 
the  wages  paid  to  the  workingmen  went  on  Saturday  night  into  these 
shops  to  settle  old  scores  or  get  rum.  "  It  was  quite  a  usual  thing  on 
Sundays  and  holidays  to  see  troops  of  these  people  reeling  about  the 
streets."  A  committee  of  the  best  citizens  was  appointed  to  devise 
means  of  checking  the  evil.  From  its  report  came  the  Gothenburg 
System. 

The  city  passed  a  law  allowing  a  "company"  of  leading  citizens  to 
buy  up  all  the  existing  licenses  for  the  sale  of  liquor  in  Gothenburg. 


28  ENTERING   SWEDEN   AT   GOTHENBURG. 

They,  and  they  only,  should  have  licenses,  and  they  might  use  all  they 
had  or  not  as  they  saw  fit.  The  licenses  over  which  the  city  had  control 
were  sixty-one.  Generally  twenty-one  had  been  left  dormant,  and  forty 
used.  In  1879  twenty-three  were  used  for  taverns  and  public  houses, 
and  for  eating-houses  where  spirits  might  be  sold  at  meals  only,  and 
fourteen  for  clubs  and  restaurants. 

The  Company  reserving  six  per  cent,  for  the  use  of  the  money,  pays 
over  all  the  proceeds  to  various  public  uses.  It  binds  itself  that  neither 
the  Company  nor  the  managers  appointed  by  it  shall  make  any  profit, 
great  or  small ;  that  spirituous  liquors  and  wines  shall  be  sold  only  for 
ready  money  paid  down  on  the  spot ;  that  none  shall  be  sold  to  persons 
already  the  worse  for  liquor,  or  to  boys  under  eighteen  years  of  age,  nor 
shall  spirits  be  sold  to  persons  who  require  several  drams  in  succession,  or 
who  come  to  the  public  house  repeatedly  within  short  intervals  to  drink. 
In  the  eating-houses  only  the  one  dram,  and  wine  before  meals,  can  be 
served,  and  ale  and  porter  only  at  meals  or  when  sandwiches  are  bought. 

The  object  of  this  system  was  "not  to  prevent  the  abuse  of  strong 
drink,"  but  "on  the  axiom  that  the  brandy  traffic  is  the  legitimate  right 
of  the  community,  and  that  its  practice  is,  by  one  or  other  circumstance, 
rendered  unavoidable.  Furthermore,  it  is  based  on  the  fact  that,  owing 
to  the  disreputable  character  of  this  traffic,  it  is  mostly  in  the  hands  of 
persons  who  are  neither  induced  by  external  nor  internal  conditions  to 
take  such  a  view  of  the  duties  connected  with  their  calling  as  could 
furnish  the  public  at  large  with  security  for  their  due  performance ;  and 
finally  that  the  publican,  in  his  capacity  of  tradesman,  cannot  help 
striving  to  derive  profit  from  it,  the  higher  the  better  ;  his  own  interest 
prompts  him  to  sell  the  greatest  possible  quantity  of  his  commodity. 
And,  yet  further  to  increase  his  net  profits,  he  will  spend  as  little  as 
possible  on  keeping  his  premises  in  decent  order  and  repair  ;  he  will 
evade  to  the  utmost  the  obligation  of  providing  food  for  his  customers. 
Moreover,  to  increase  his  sales  he  will,  when  his  own  interests  are  not  at 
stake,  allow  his  customers  to  take  their  drams  on  credit  or  pawn  tickets 
It  was  this  state  of  tilings  that  the  new  system  proposed  to  remedy." 


ENTERING   SWEDEN   AT   GOTHENBURG.  29 

What  does  it  accomplish  ?  I  can  see  that  it  prevents  the  customer 
from  being  tempted  by  the  seller ;  it  puts  a  stop  to  running  in  debt  for 
liquor ;  it  stops  him  when  he  shows  signs  of  being  drunk  ;  it  can  divert 
him  from  his  cravings  for  liquor  by  offering  him  food  ;  it  can  make  it 
impossible  for  children  under  eighteen  years  old  to  buy  liquors  directly  ; 
it  can  sell  unadulterated  liquors ;  it  can  keep  the  establishment  shut  up 
at  proper  hours.  These,  and  these  only,  it  can  do.  It  stops  not  the 
abuse  of  liquor.  I  saw  drunkenness  in  Gothenburg ;  saw  ten  men  not 
far  from  midday  on  Sunday,  staggering  about. 

The  eating  houses  furnished  by  the  Company  give  more  food,  and  a 
better  quality  of  it  for  the  cost,  than  any  of  which  I  have  ever  heard. 
Having  inspected  them  and  tasted  the  food  as  it  is  furnished  to  the 
workingmen,  I  am  a  competent  witness.  Tea,  with  bread  and  butter,  is 
served  for  twenty  ore  ( equal  to  five  and  a  half  cents ) ;  tea  with  sand- 
wiches, seven  cents ;  coffee  with  meat  sandwiches,  five  cents ;  coffee, 
eggs  and  cold  meat,  fourteen  cents.  The  regular  dinners,  soup,  meat, 
potatoes  and  bread,  for  about  seventeen  cents  ! 

Gothenburg  also  sustains  a  plan  for  giving  the  workingman  a  home. 
Comfortable  brick  houses  are  built,  and  he  pays  for  them  in  small 
monthly  installments,  becoming  in  seventeen  years  the  owner.  I  was  con- 
ducted through  one  of  these.  They  are  better  built  and  more  conven- 
ient than  the  average  of  the  houses  provided  by  religious  societies  in 
the  United  States  for  the  use  of  the  pastors  of  their  churches  in  rural 
districts,  and  compare  favorably  with  such  houses  in  large  towns.  The 
public  schools  and  their  buildings  in  Gothenburg  are  among  the  best  in 
the  world.  It  also  sustains  institutions  for  the  training  and  education  of 
domestic  servants.  Girls  who  have  been  in  the  public  schools  stay  two  or 
three  years,  and  are  then  sent  out  to  good  places.  Large  houses  are 
devoted  to  the  support  of  indigent  and  respectable  widows,  broken-down 
merchants,  and  others,  who  live  in  separate  apartments  rent  free.  A 
"  committee  "  in  all  cases  decides  on  the  admission  of  applicants. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Rubenson,  I  was  introduced  to  one  of 
these  merchants,  and  to  my  surprise  found  him  residing  in  one  of  the 


30  ENTERING    SWEDEN    AT    GOTHENBURG. 

finest  edifices  of  the  city.     I  had  passed  it  before,  and  thought  it  the 
residence  of  some  prosperous  citizen. 

The  bath  houses  of  Gothenburg  are  unequalled.  They,  also,  are 
sustained  by  funds  left  by  a  wealthy  inhabitant.  Here  the  very  poor  can 
take  baths,  convenient  and  clean,  for  a  nominal  sum  ;  while  those  who 
are  prepared  to  pay  larger  amounts,  can  have  all  the  luxuries  of  the  finest 
Italian  or  Parisian  establishments. 

In  a  room  I  saw  twenty  rosy-cheeked  infants  sleeping.  As  no  two 
were  dressed  alike,  I  asked  what  this  meant.  "  O,  these  are  the  children 
of  working  women,  who  can  leave  them  here  for  four  or  five  ore  (a  cent 
and  a  half)  for  the  morning."  "Why  the  small  charge?"  "We  find 
that  people  appreciate  only  what  costs  them  something,  however  little  it 
may  be."  This,  also,  is  common  sense. 

Practical  philanthropy  is  more  highly  developed  than  in  any  other  city 
in  the  world.  Its  citizens  have  a  fashion  of  spending  their  money  for 
the  public  good,  and  leaving  a  large  part  of  their  estates  to  the  city. 
So  much  is  done  in  Gothenburg  for  the  workingman  that  Socialists 
can  get  no  foothold,  and  labor  troubles  are  practically  unknown.  If 
brandy  were  extirpated,  this  Swedish  city  would  be  Utopia  realized. 

As  to  the  system  of  managing  the  liquor  traffic,  the  best  that  can  be 
said  of  it  is,  that  it  is  better  than  any  other  form  of  legalizing  it.  It 
disinfects  the  decaying  carcass,  it  destroys  its  vile  odors,  it  makes  it  a 
little  less  poisonous,  but  it  is  still  there  doing  its  deadly  work.  Mr. 
Rubenson  acknowledged  that  it  did  not  prevent  drunkenness.  He 
claimed,  however,  that  it  taught  the  people  caution  and  prevented  them 
from  contracting  bills  for  liquor,  and  avoided  the  bar-room  society  and 
unnatural  stimulus  to  the  use  of  liquor. 

The  Gothenburg  System  could  not  be  applied  successfully  except  in  a 
community  peculiarly  organized.  In  some  places  in  Sweden  its  funda- 
mental principles  of  "no  profit"  to  any  one,  has  been  departed  from. 
The  towns  have  urged  the  Company  to  press  the  business  in  view  of 
the  revenue.  On  the  whole,  the  Gothenburg  System  sheds  but  little  light 
on  the  problem  of  suppressing  intemperance  in  other  parts  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    CAPITAL    OF    NORWAY. "BEAUTIFUL    CHRISTIANIA." 

HAVING  completed  the  investigations  detailed  in  the  last  chapter, 
I  left  Gothenburg  on  a  beautiful  evening  by  the  handsome 
steamer  Christiania,  for  Christiania.  During  the  first  part  of  the  voyage 
the  sea  was  calm,  the  long  northern  twilight  mellow,  and  the  water  of 
the  genuine  emerald  hue,  burnished  with  silver  and  gold.  The  stars 
could  be  seen  by  looking  in  the  sea,  and  if  the  sea  could  not  be  seen  by 
looking  upward,  the  distant  horizon  certainly  appeared  much  above  the 
level  of  the  ship's  deck.  Of  course  if  there  had  been  any  high  object 
floating  on  the  water  this  optical  illusion  would  have  been  corrected. 
The  breeze  was  gentle,  but  active  enough  to  be  a  tonic.  All  this  was 
preliminary  to  one  of  Neptune's  most  violent  paroxysms  of  ill-temper. 

By  ten  o'clock  the  ship  was  in  the  Skager-Rack,  the  wind  blew  a  gale, 
the  waves  were  "short,  sharp,  and  decisive,"  the  pitching  was  incal- 
culable, without  uniformity  of  space,  direction,  time,  or  rate.  Never 
was  name  more  appropriate  for  that  sea  than  Skager-Rack  —  giving  the 
word  rack  its  English  sense.  Skager,  too,  has  a  wrenching,  twisting 
sound.  The  literal  meaning  of  the  phrase  is  "  the  crooked  and  boisterous 
strait." 

Of  the  one  hundred  passengers  not  ten  escaped  sickness.  Ladies  fell 
flat  upon  the  floor  ;  men  who  had  never  succumbed  before  collapsed 
then  ;  my  stalwart  legal  travelling  companion  found  his  six  feet  of  height 
and  two  hundred  pounds  of  weight  and  dignity  no  protection. 

I  draw  a  veil  over  my  own  sorrows,  only  saying,  with  Hamlet,  that  I 
could  not  "  unpack  my  heart  with  words." 

Near  me  was  a  man  of  monstrous  size,  and  ill-shapen  ;  his  writhings 
and  groans  were  awful,  and  he  ejaculated  in  various  languages.  The 


32       THE  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY.  —  "  BEAUTIFUL  CHRISTIANIA." 

wife  of  this  colossus  (as  is  often  the  case)  was  a  very  little  woman.  In 
the  morning  she  was  blaming  him  for  making  so  much  noise,  and  he  said 
playfully, 

"  Little  wife,  you  do  not  know  how  I  felt ;   you  are  too  little  !  " 

"  I  was  sick  all  over.     That  is  as  much  as  you  could  be,"  said  she. 

The  explosion  of  laughter  among  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians  at  this 
sally  led  me  to  ask  a  translation.  This  scene  of  wretchedness  continued 
till  nearly  sunrise.  Yet  the  captain  confessed  that  it  was  only  an 
average  night  for  seasickness.  To  the  traveller,  then,  I  say,  beware  of 
the  Skager-Rack  !  Yet  let  us  not  speak  disrespectfully  of  it,  for  by  its 
means  and  that  of  the  Kattegat,  the  North  Sea  is  connected  with  the 
Baltic  and  the  Gulfs  of  Bothnia,  Finland  and  Riga. 

About  daylight  we  entered  the  Christiania  Fiord.  This  has  been  fitly 
termed  "a  most  picturesque  arm  of  the  sea."  It  is  a  little  more  than 
fifty  English  miles  long  ;  its  shores,  though  high  enough  to  make  dark 
shadows  on  the  water,  are  not  precipitous.  The  contrast  of  the  shadows 
with  the  belt  of  light  left  over  the  centre  of  the  channel  was  beautiful. 
Along  the  shore  are  fine  country  houses,  and  large  ice  houses  with  a 
peculiar  apparatus  for  getting  the  ice  down  to  the  boats.  Chateaux  are 
seen  on  the  distant  hills,  and  the  steamboats  and  sailing  vessels  going  to 
and  from  Christiania  and  crossing  the  fiord,  make  a  lively  picture. 

Nature  has  provided  breakwaters  superior  to  man's  art,  and  they  have 
needed  no  repairs — at  least  not  "within  the  historic  period."  The 
troubled  sea  is  here  generally  at  rest. 

At  the  north  end  of  this  fiord  lies  Christiania,  certainly  "beautiful  for 
situation,"  and  the  joy  of  Norway,  if  not  of  the  whole  earth.  The 
general  expression  of  the  strangers  on  the  ship  when  the  city  first  ap- 
peared in  view,  was  "  How  beautiful ! "  Imagine  the  fiord  in  an  elliptical 
shape  with  green  hills  on  either  hand  and  green  hills,  reaching  almost 
the  height  of  mountains,  rising  and  extending  in  front.  At  the  very  end 
of  the  fiord  is  the  city,  ascending  from  the  water's  edge,  and  surmounted 
in  the  rear  by  fine  estates  and  gardens.  Beyond  are  the  mountains. 
The  houses  are  of  stone  and  plaster,  very  bright  and  clean,  thus  con- 


THE  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY.  —  "  BEAUTIFUL  CHRISTIANIA."       33 

trasting  with  the  green  hills,  the  blue  sky,  and  bluer  waters  of  the  fiord. 
Fancy  a  pretty  little  river  running  along  to  the  east  of  the  city,  and  the 
picture  is  as  complete  as  a  matter-of-fact  pen  can  make  it. 

On  arriving  in  the  city  I  met  a  citizen  of  Christiania  whom  I  had  seen 
in  the  United  States.  His  name  is  Olsen.  Perceiving  upon  the  signs 
and  door-plates  a  frequent  repetition  of  that  name,  I  asked  him  if  it  were 
a  very  common  name  in  Norway.  "O  yes,"  said  he,  "there  are  more 
than  eighteen  hundred  in  this  city  alone."  By  reference  to  the  directory 


BEAUTIFUL    CHRISTIANIA. 


I  found  this  to  be  a  fact  ;  and  that  one  in  every  forty-three  of  the  popu- 
lation rejoice  in  the  name  of  Olsen.  Christiansen  is  almost  as  common 
in  Denmark.  The  multitudinous  family  of  the  Smiths  may  find  consola- 
tion in  these  facts. 

We  were  as  fortunate  in  finding  a  native  Norwegian  who  had  spent  a 
number  of  years  in  the  United  States  as  a  companion,  as  we  had  been  in 
Denmark.  Mr.  N.  E.  Simonson,  an  intelligent  gentleman,  courteously 
gave  his  entire  time  to  us  while  we  remained  in  the  city. 


34       THE  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY.  —  "  BEAUTIFUL  CHRISTIANIA." 

Christiania  contains  many  objects  of  general  interest.  The  Royal 
Palace,  unlike  those  in  most  other  parts  of  Europe,  is  new,  having  been 
finished  in  1848.  It  cost  but  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  dollars, 
and  is  attractive,  but  not  to  be  compared  in  grandeur  with  most  of  the 
royal  palaces  of  Europe.  It  is  more  like  a  habitation  in  which  home  life 
is  possible  than  others,  and  is  good  enough  for  any  man,  be  he  pope  or 
king.  In  front  is  a  statue  of  Bernadotte,  Charles  XIV.  It  has  on  it  his 
motto,  which  might  be  adopted  to  the  great  advantage  of  the  world  by 
every  potentate  in  Church  or  State  :  "T/ie people 's  love  is  my  reward." 

The  paintings  in  the  gallery  belong  to  the  Government.  They  are 
mostly  by  Norwegian  painters.  Many  of  the  views  of  natural  scenery 
are  perfect,  and  some  representing  religious  life  are  imbued  with  a  spirit 
of  devotion.  A  full  discussion  of  them  would  require  several  chapters  ; 
but  if  too  many  pictures  weary  the  eye,  too  prolix  a  description  fatigues 
the  mind.  Genuine  simplicity  marks  most,  though  not  all,  the  pure 
Norwegians  scenes,  the  painters  in  most  instances  having  been  content 
to  copy  nature. 

In  its  Ethnographical,  Zoological,  Botanical  and  Mineral  Museums,  and 
in  the  collection  of  Northern  Antiquities,  Christiania  compares  well 
with  cities  of  the  first  rank. 

The  University  building  is  an  imposing  structure,  thirty  years  old. 
The  Institution  itself  was  founded  seventy-five  years  ago,  and  has  an 
average  attendance  of  a  thousand  students  who  hear  fifty-three  professors 
lecture  without  any  charge  being  made  fo»  the  instruction. 

Norway,  which,  till  the  beginning  of  this  century,  had  for  a  long 
time  been  united  with  Denmark,  after  the  crisis  in  the  relations  of  the 
European  States  occasioned  by  the  aggressive  wholesale  wars  and  con- 
quests of  Napoleon  the  Great,  was  united  with  Sweden.  It  has,  however, 
a  Constitution  of  its  own,  formed  by  the  representatives  of  the  people, 
which,  unlike  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  was  principally  the 
work  of  one  man.  Norway  is  much  more  democratic  in  its  laws  and 
spirit  than  Sweden.  No  privileges  of  birth  or  hereditary  nobility  exist 
there.  The  Storthing,  or  Great  Court,  represents  the  sovereign  will  of 


THE  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY.  —  "BEAUTIFUL  CHRISTIANIA."       35 

the  people.  The  king  can  veto  an  act.  It  is  null  during  the  three  years 
of  the  session  of  the  Storthing.  Then  it  can  be  passed  again.  The 
king  can  veto  it  again.  Three  years  later  it  can  be  passed  a  third  time, 
but  after  three  enactments  the  king's  veto  has  no  more  obstructive 
effect.  It  is  then  law,  and  he  must  obey  it. 

The  Parliament  House,  finished  in  1866,  is  an  imposing,  though  unos- 
tentatious building.  It  has  the  usual  library,  committee-rooms,  and 
depository  of  public  documents.  The  large  hall  ( Storthings-Sal )  seats 


THE   STORTHINGS-HUS    (PARLIAMENT   HOUSE),   CHRISTIANIA. 

one  hundred  and  fifty  deputies,  and  has  room  for  three  or  four  hundred 
spectators. 

An  unusual  arrangement  is.  that,  while  all  the  deputies  sit  together, 
debate  and  vote  together,  about  forty  of  them  constitute  the  Lagthing. 
When  the  Lagthing  chooses  it  withdraws.  To  complete  an  act  the 
Storthing  and  the  Lagthing  must  both  pass  it. 

Noticing  as  I  passed  through  the  Hall  that  each  seat  had  the  name  of 
a  town  or  city  inscribed  upon  it,  and  that  Bergen  with  thirty-four  thou- 


36       THE  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY.  —  "  BEAUTIFUL  CHRISTIANIA." 

sand  population  had  four  seats,  and  that  Christiania  with  seventy-seven 
thousand  had  but  four,  I  said  to  Mr.  Simonson, 

"  On  what  principle  do  thirty-four  thousand  people  have  an  equal 
representation  with  seventy-seven  thousand  ?  " 

He  answered  :  "  Such  is  the  jealousy  of  the  small  towns  and  rural 
districts  of  the  growth  of  cities,  that  this  grievous  incongruity  is  perpet- 
uated. They  will  give  no  more  seats  to  Christiania  though  its  population 
is  so  greatly  increased,  nor  reduce  the  number  allowed  to  Bergen  ;  for 
to  give  more  to  Christiania  would  give  that  city  more  power  than  Bergen 
has,  while  to  reduce  Bergen  would  make  it  necessary  to  reduce  the  rep- 
resentation of  many  other  places,  so  that  all  combine  to  retain  the 
present  inequality." 

The  best  of  feeling  does  not  exist  toward  the  King,  nor  toward  the 
union  with  Sweden.  A  strong  democratic  sentiment  prevails  among  the 
middle  classes,  though  the  educated  are  generally  conservative.  The 
King's  Cabinet  had  recently  advised  him  that  in  a  certain  matter  he  had 
a  constitutional  right  to  exercise  his  prerogative  of  the  veto  upon  the 
action  of  the  Storthing  after  the  nine  years  had  passed.  The  then 
president  of  the  Storthing,  the  most  powerful  orator  in  Norway,  induced 
the  Storthing  to  impeach  the  members  of  the  Cabinet.  The  proceeding 
was  more  successful  than  the  impeachment  of  Andrew  Johnson,  for  the 
Lagthing  and  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  forming  a  high  tribunal, 
convicted  them  —  fined  some,  and  deprived  others  of  their  seats  and  of 
the  right  to  hold  office,  whereupon  the  King  had  to  ask  his  opponents 
to  confirm  the  minister. 

I  said  to  one  of  the  citizens  of  Christiania,  a  professional  man  and 
competent  to  give  a  just  estimate,  "  What  are  the  characteristics  of  the 
ordinary  parliamentary  orator  in  Norway  ?  " 

"  Ordinary  oratory  in  Norway,"  he  answered,  "is  of  the  bookish  or 
essay  style  ;  but  that  of  the  president  of  the  Storthing  who  successfully 
antagonized  the  will  of  the  King  and  his  Cabinet,  is  incisive,  full  of  an- 
tithesis and  climaxes,  and  therefore  stirs  and  rouses  the  people  to  a 
high  degree  of  excitement." 


THE  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY.  —  "  BEAUTIFUL  CHRISTIANIA."       37 

"  Is  it  of  a  purely  sensational  style  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  No,"  he  replied,  "  it  has  a  basis  of  convincing  argument,  but  the 
whole  is  set  on  fire  by  a  most  impulsive  temperament,  and  uttered  with 
great  vehemence." 

I  inferred  that  in  my  friend's  opinion,  this  great  Norwegian  orator 
was  a  mysterious  blending  of  Gladstone  and  Gambetta. 

The  cities  of  the  dead  in  the  great  capitals  of  Europe,  when  closely 
studied,  are  found  to  be  marked  by  the  peculiar  genius  of  the  living  as  a 
rule,  no  less  than  the  halls  of  science  or  legislation,  the  exchanges  or  the 
churches.  Christiania,  though  among  the  youngest  of  European  capitals, 
is  not  an  exception,  and  some  hours  of  wandering  among  the  tombs  of 
its  cemetery  gave  a  view  of  Norwegian  simplicity,  domestic  life,  literature 
and  art. 

But  the  monument  which  made  the  deepest  impression  upon  me  was 
that  of  Henrik  Wergeland,  "the  most  famous  of  Norwegian  poets." 
The  monument  contains  an  inscription  stating  that  it  was  erected  by 
"Grateful  Jews  in  recognition  of  his  successful  efforts  in  obtaining  lib- 
erty for  them  to  settle  in  Norway."  Equally  famous  as  a  poet  and 
philanthropist,  he  died  universally  beloved  in  1845. 

Norway,  with  respect  to  its  treatment  of  the  Jews,  is  in  most  honorable 
contrast  with  Germany,  Russia  and  Roumania,  in  all  of  which  at  the 
time  at  which  I  visited  the  tomb  of  this  Norwegian  poet,  the  Jews  were 
being  bitterly  persecuted. 

The  only  American  traveller  that  I  met  in  Christiania  was  Dr.  Philip 
Schaff,  whose  name  is  as  well  known  in  every  country  of  Europe  among 
scholars  as  that  of  any  living  American. 

Most  of  the  inhabitants  of  Christiania  are  Protestants ;  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  is  scarcely  known  there.  The  State  Church  is  in  sub- 
stance Lutheran.  The  entire  population  is  taxed  to  support  it,  and  it  is 
protected  by  various  stringent  laws.  No  member  of  the  State  Church 
can  be  received  into  any  other  church  without  a  legal  discharge  ;  nor  is 
it  lawful  for  any  dissenting  sect  to  administer  the  Holy  Communion  to 
members  of  the  State  Church. 


38       THE  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY.— "  BEAUTIFUL  CHRISTIANIA." 

All  children  baptized  in  the  State  Church  in  infancy,  must  remain 
members  of  it  until  they  are  nineteen  years  old.  Agitation  has  produced 
some  modification  of  these  laws,  and  on  notifying  the  ministers,  adults 
can  leave  the  church  if  they  assign  another  church  which  they  wish  to 
join,  but  not  otherwise.  I  had  a  conversation  with  a  citizen  about  these 
laws  and  he  said : 

"  No,  sir  !  An  Atheist  cannot  get  out  of  the  State  Church  unless 
he  will  name  some  other  church  which  he  will  join.  One  man  whom  I 
know  wished  to  leave,  and  told  the  minister  that  he  did  not  believe  in 
God  or  a  future  state.  The  minister  said,  '  I  cannot  legally  discharge 
you  unless  you  name  some  other  church.'  The  man  answered,  '  I  don't 
wish  to  join  any  other  church,  and  I  will  not,  for  I  do  not  believe  in 
religion  of  any  kind.'  'Then,'  said  the  minister,  'I  cannot  give  you  a 
discharge.'  The  applicant  brought  a  civil  action  against  the  minister  to 
compel  him  to  grant  his  request,  but  the  court  sustained  the  minister." 

It  would  appear,  then,  that  once  baptized  they  are  in  the  church,  and 
even  Atheism  cannot  get  them  out.  Yet  American  Missions,  such  as 
were  described  in  the  first  chapter,  flourish  greatly  in  Norway. 

Emigration  from  Norway  is  great  and  constant.  Thinking  that  the 
pastors  of  the  city  could  give  some  information  upon  this  subject,  I  called 
upon  one  who  said  : 

"  During  the  past  eight  years  three  hundred  and  fifty  communicants 
have  been  added  to  the  church  of  which  I  am  pastor.  Of  these,  sixty 
have  died,  withdrawn,  or  otherwise  left  the  church.  One  hundred  and 
forty  have  emigrated  from  Norway." 

I  asked  then  where  these  had  gone,  and  he  said, 

"  About  three  quarters  of  them-to  the  United  States,  and  the  rest  to 
Denmark  and  New  Zealand." 

Perhaps  the  object  in  Christiania  which  interests  most  travellers  more 
than  any  other,  is  the  Ancient  Viking  Ship. 

The  practice  among  the  Northmen,  during  the  later  periods  of 
Paganism,  was  to  bury  their  great  warriors  with  one  of  their  war  ships. 
Excavations  of  grave  mounds  have  brought  to  light  ships  from  eight 


THE    VIKING    SHIP. 

SHOWING:     i.  The  vessel  when  brought  to  Christiania.     2.  As  she  must  have  looked  sailing  before  the  wind 
3.  The  rudder,  oars,  a  shield  and  one  of  the  tilt-heads. 


THE  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY. -"BEAUTIFUL  CHRISTIANIA."       41 

to  nine  hundred  years  old.  They  buried  them  thus  :  The  vessel  was 
hauled  ashore  and  "  laid  on  an  even  keel ; "  the  body  was  placed  in 
it,  with  such  things  as  the  dead  would  need  in  the  other  world  ;  then  a 
mound  of  earth  or  stones  was  thrown  over  the  whole.  Generally  the 
ships  rotted ;  but  in  Southeastern  Norway,  in  two  cases,  blue  clay  was 
used  for  the  mound,  and  the  ships  have  been  preserved.  By  far  the 
more  wonderful  was  found  in  1880,  at  Sandefiord,  excavated  by  the 
president  of  the  Norwegian  Archaeological  Society.  The  ship  is  now 
in  the  University  of  Christiania.  There  I  saw  it,  and  found  it  to  be  one 
of  the  most  impressive  relics  of  past  times.  It  is  of  oak,  clinker-built, 
iron-nailed,  caulked  with  cow's-hair  oakum  spun  into  cords  of  three 
strands.  The  ties  are  made  of  roots ;  the  planks  are  one  inch  thick  ;  the 
keel  was  sixty  feet  long,  and  the  whole  length,  from  end  of  bow  to  end 
of  stern,  seventy  feet.  It  was  fifteen  feet  wide  amidships,  and  four  feet 
deep.  It  had  both  oars  and  canvas,  and  one  mast,  with  machinery  for 
lowering  it  when  going  against  a  head-wind  or  into  battle.  She  carried 
thirty-two  oars,  each  eighteen  feet  long. 

In  and  about  it  were  found  fragments  of  three  oak  boats,  the  largest 
twenty-one  feet,  and  the  smallest  twelve  feet  long  ;  the  stock  of  the 
anchor ;  fragments  of  four  sleeping  berths ;  parts  of  a  finely  carved 
wooden  chair ;  many  cooking  utensils ;  a  massive  copper  kettle,  tubs, 
buckets,  wooden  plates,  carved  drinking-cups,  and  many  other  things. 
The  body  had  been  placed  in  a  large  grave-chamber  of  wood  in  the 
middle  of  the  ship.  This  ship-tomb  had  been  visited  by  grave-rob- 
bers in  the  Pagan  era,  and  they  stole  many  valuable  things,  the  hole 
they  made  being  still  visible.  In  the  chamber  were  found  ornaments  of 
gilded  bronze,  and*  fragments  of  wearing  apparel  of  gold  brocade. 

Many  animals  were  sacrificed  at  this  burial.  "The  bones  of  at  least 
twelve  horses  and  six  dogs,  as  also  the  bones  and  feathers  of  a  pea-fowl," 
were  found  in  the  mound. 

These  demonstrate  "  that  she  belongs  to  the  period  extending  from 
800  to  1050  after  Christ."  Such  were  the  vessels  that  "often  crossed 
the  North  Sea  in  the  fleets  of  the  sea  kings  to  ravage  the  British  Islands 


42       THE  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY.  — "  BEAUTIFUL  CHRISTIANIA." 

and  the  adjacent  coasts  of  France."  It  was  in  such  as  these  that  the 
Norwegians  discovered  Iceland,  Greenland  and  America,  hundreds  of 
years  before  Columbus*  was  born.  There  is,  however,  reason  to  believe 
that  many  of  the  Viking  war  ships  were  much  larger  than  this. 

The  measurements  and  relics  are  visible  to  all ;  the  more  recondite 
information  I  have  condensed  from  the  authorized  account  of  the  ship 
and  its  discovery  sent,  with  a  model,  to  the  "International  Ship-Model 
Exhibition,"  in  London,  1882. 

It  would  have  been  pleasant  to  linger  for  many  weeks  in  Christian ia, 
whose  people  as  I  became  acquainted  with  them  proved  as  attractive  as 
the  city  itself,  but,  for  reasons  which  those  who  follow  my  wanderings 
further  will  discover,  it  was  necessary  to  hasten. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

A    PICTURESQUE   JOURNEY,    AND    AN    ANCIENT    CAPITAL. 

THE  journey  now  to  begin  consists  of  three  hundred  and  forty-seven 
miles  by  rail  through  the  heart  of  Norway,  from  Christiania  to 
Trondhjem,  its  ancient  capital,  and  the  birthplace  of  its  civilization  and 
its  religion. 

As  soon  as  we  were  fairly  outside  the  limits  of  Christiania,  the 
characteristic  scenery  of  Norway  appeared.  Next  to  Russia,  the  king- 
dom of  Sweden  and  Norway  has  the  largest  area  of  the  nations  of 
Europe :  it  is  more  than  eleven  hundred  English  miles  from  its  most 
southwesterly  to  its  most  northeasterly  extreme. 

If  a  Norwegian  invites  one  to  walk  over  to  his  house  to  dine  with  him, 
saying,  "  It  is  but  a  mile,"  it  is  necessary  to  know  what  kind  of  mile  he 
means.  A  Norwegian  mile  on  land  is  equal  to  seven  English  miles,  and 
a  Norwegian  sea  mile  is  equal  to  four  of  our  miles. 

The  great  peculiarity  of  Scandinavia  is  that  on  the  west  side  it  is  a  vast 
elevation  which  descends  in  precipices  to  the  ocean,  while  on  the  east  it 
gradually  slopes  to  the  plains  of  Sweden,  many  of  which  are  as  level  as 
our  Western  prairies.  This  configuration  makes  Norway  consist  almost 
entirely  of  mountains,  from  which  issue  rapid  and  unnavigable  rivers, 
leaving  little  tillable  land.  It  gives  Sweden  fertile  meadows  and  charm- 
ing lakes.  The  geological  formation  of  Norway  has  been  described  in 
few  words,  as  follows  : 

"  The  mountains  are  composed  almost  entirely  of  primary  rocks, 
presenting  nearly  the  same  form  as  when  originally  solidified,  and  rarely 
overlaid  with  more  recent  formations,  so  that  for  the  geologist  they 
possess  the  charm  of  the  most  hoar  antiquity.  These  primary  rocks 
consist  of  granite,  gneiss,  mica,  hornblende,  slate,  quartzite,  clay-slate, 

43 


44          A  PICTURESQUE  JOURNEY,  AND  AN  ANCIENT  CAPITAL. 

limestone,  and  dolomite,  disposed  in  the  form  of  strata."  In  some  parts 
of  Norway  the  oldest  of  these,  the  gneiss,  "  towers  in  most  imposing 
pinnacles,"  some  of  v/hich  are  six  thousand  feet  high. 

In  the  course  of  my  travels  in  Norway  I  saw  specimens  of  all  the  for- 
mations named  in  the  foregoing  description. 

On  the  entire  line  of  railway,  at  every  station  there  is  a  sign  stating 
the  distance  from  Christiania  and  from  Trondhjem,  and  the  height  of  the 
station  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

Soon  to  the  left  appeared  Lake  Mjesen,  the  largest  in  Norway.  It  is 
sixty-two  English  miles  long,  and  ten  to  eleven  wide.  We  rode  many 
miles  along  its  shore,  charmed  with  the  scenery  which  is  like  that  of  Ver- 
mont. One  hill  on  the  west  bank  attains  to  nearly  the  proportions  of  a 
mountain  —  two  thousand  three  hundred  feet  high.  Woods,  meadows, 
farmhouses,  villas,  surround  the  lake. 

At  Hamar,  opposite,  in  the  centre,  was  a  large  island,  the  only  one  in 
the  lake.  Soon  a  pretty  little  river,  called  the  Vormen,  came  into  view, 
which  we  crossed  on  an  iron  bridge  sixty-five  feet  high  and  one  thousand 
one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long.  At  Hamar  we  changed  to  narrow- 
gauge  cars,  and  began  to  climb  the  mountains,  ascending  through  thick 
woods  till  nearly  one  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

When  one  hundred  miles  of  the  journey  were  passed,  the  Glommen, 
the  largest  river  in  Norway,  appeared,  and  the  line  ran  along  its  valley 
for  a  great  distance.  At  last  the  mountains  grew  higher,  and  their  tops 
were  covered  with  lichens  and  yellow  mosses.  The  river  in  the  contracted 
valley  was  far  beneath,  and  seemed  as  if  immediately  under  us ;  we 
read  at  the  station  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet  above 
liavet  ( the  sea)  —  saw  high  mountains  all  around  us,  and  the  mighty  Tron- 
field  on  whose  summit  the  snow  never  melts.  All  about  were  countless 
pine-trees  killed  by  the  winters,  when  the  thermometer  sinks  sixty 
degrees  below  zero.  At  two  hundred  and  twenty-two  miles  we  saw  the 
Glommen  breaking  through  and  dashing  over  walls  of  slate.  At  Tonsaet 
we  stopped  for  the  night — and  "let  that  night  be  forgotten,"  for  "it 
hath  nothing  pleasant  to  remember." 


A  PICTURESQUE  JOURNEY,  AND  AN  ANCIENT  CAPITAL.          47 

Resuming  the  journey  at  six  in  the  morning,  we  continued  to  climb 
-until  the  register  marked  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea  level.  Two 
hundred  and  forty-seven  miles  from  Christiania  the  train  stopped  at 
Reros,  the  gloomiest  spot  I  have  ever  seen  except  in  the  highest  altitudes 
of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  or  in  the  Alps  just  below  the  snow  line,  or  in 
the  Mammoth  Cave. 

Winter  lasts  there  nearly  nine  months ;  snow  may  fall  at  any  time. 
The  place  owes  its  existence  to  copper  mines.  The  people  work  under- 
ground ;  the  trees  have  been  cut  down  for  fuel ;  corn  will  not  grow 
there,  and  Siberia  can  show  few  spots  more  dreary.  Thence  we  ascended 
to  the  highest  point  reached  by  the  railway,  two  thousand  two  hundred 
feet,  descending  afterward  rapidly  until  within  thirty  miles  of  the  end 
of  the  journey,  when  a  beautiful  transformation  scene  occurred.  The 
country  lost  its  rugged  aspect,  meadows,  quaint  farmhouses,  and  pretty 
villages  appeared,  and  forests  covered  the  mountains.  At  last,  toward 
evening  of  the  second  day,  we  arrived  at  Drontheim. 

The  name  of  this  ancient  city,  the  classic  ground  of  Norway,  is  spelled 
in  three  ways :  Throndhjem,  Trondhjem,  and  on  English  maps  it 
appears  as  Drontheim.  To  give  an  idea  of  how  far  toward  the  North 
Pole  this  city  is,  it  is  only  necessary  to  say  that  it  is  the  same  parallel  as 
the  south  coast  of  Iceland ;  namely,  sixty-three  degrees  and  thirty  min- 
utes north  latitude. 

In  old  Norwegian  traditions  it  is  always  spoken  of  as  "  the  strength 
and  heart  of  the  country,"  and  by  all  historians  is  recognized  as  the 
"  cradle  of  the  kingdom  of  Norway."  It  dates  from  the  year  1016  of  the 
Christian  era.  St.  Olaf  gave  it  its  first  impulse,  and  was  buried  there 
near  the  spring.  Pilgrims  came  to  the  spot  from  all  lands,  and  five  large 
monasteries  and  more  than  twelve  churches  were  built,  either  for  their 
accommodation  or  from  their  contributions. 

At  the  Reformation,  which  was  so  sweeping  that  the  Roman  Catholics 
have  hardly  an  existence  in  Norway,  all  the  pilgrimages  ceased,  the  relics 
were  removed,  and  the  monasteries  closed. 

The    cathedral,  successor  of  the  church  built  at  St.  Olaf's  Well  ( said 


48 


A  PICTURESQUE  JOURNEY,  AND  AN  ANCIENT  CAPITAL. 


to  have  sprung  up  at  the  spot  where  he  was  buried  ),  is,  together  with 
the  natural  scenery  and  the  shipping,  the  great  interest  of  the  place. 
When  I  was  there  the  cathedral  was  not  seen  to  advantage,  because  the 
process  of  restoration  was  still  going  on. 

Rubbish,  scaffolding  and  workmen  were  almost  everywhere.  Still, 
much  of  its  original  beauty,  especially  the  frescoings  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  could  be  seen. 

The  harbor  is  filled  with  ships  from  all  parts  of  Europe,  and  the  fiord, 
or  gulf  upon  which  the  city  is  situated,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  lofty 


TRONDHJEM,  THE  ANCIENT  CAPITAL  OF  NORWAY. 

mountains,  like  most  of  the  sea-coast  towns  of  Norway,  makes  it  inter- 
esting to  the  traveller  who  never  wearies  of  the  useful  and  noble  works 
of  man  or  of  the  works  of  God. 

The  people  have  suffered  so  much  from  fires  that  the  streets  are  among 
the  widest  in  Europe.  The  climate  is  severe,  the  days  in  winter  being 
very  short  —  only  five  or  six  hours  —  and  the  winters  very  long.  The 
average  temperature  for  the  month  of  July  being  only  fifty-three  degrees, 


A  PICTURESQUE  JOURNEY,  AND  AN  ANCIENT  CAPITAL.          49 

the  people  are  fain  to  cultivate  flowers  indoors.  As  one  traverses  the 
wide  streets,  the  novel  and  beautiful  spectacle  is  seen  of  every  window  in 
the  houses  being  filled  with  flowers  in  full  bloom. 

Historically  it  is  interesting  to  know  that  in  the  eleventh  and  twelfth 
centuries  the  cathedral  was  the  burial-place  of  the  kings  of  Norway.  But 
it  is  still  more  so  to  know  that,  by  the  Constitution  of  Norway,  since 
1814,  the  successive  kings  of  Norway  are  compelled  to  journey  to 
Trondhjem  to  be  crowned  in  this  famous  cathedral.  Here  the  present 
King  of  Sweden  and  Norway,  Oscar  II.,  was  crowned  in  1873. 

Trondhjem  is  the  most  northerly  spot  in  the  world  which  evangelical 
missions  from  the  United  States  have  reached. 

The  public  buildings  of  Trondhjem  are  not  such  as  to  require  particu- 
lar description.  It  is  a  small  place,  having  a  population  of  twenty-two 
thousand  six  hundred. 

We  visited  the  Lunatic  Asylum,  from  which  fine  views  are  to  be 
obtained  of  the  surrounding  country  :  the  hills  in  the  distance,  the 
fiord,  the  fortress  of  Christiansen,  "the  picturesque  Munkholm  " — an 
island  on  which  a  monastery,  founded  in  1028,  stood  for  many  years.  In 
that  monastery  the  minister  of  the  Emperor  Christian  V.  was  confined 
from  1680  to  1692.  Victor  Hugo  described  the  island  in  his  "Hand' 
Island." 

The  interior  of  the  Lunatic  Asylum  did  not  exhibit  the  perfection  of 
detail  which  we  find  in  the  best  institutions  in  the  United  States  ;  but 
the  arrangements  for  the  safety  and  comfort  of  the  patients  seemed  ade- 
quate. Many  of  the  inmates  were  peasants,  and  dressed  in  the  style  of 
the  Norwegian  peasantry.  The  female  attendants  were  remarkably  vig- 
orous and  healthy,  and  managed  the  unfortunates  committed  to  their 
care  with  mingled  good  humor  and  force.  When  the  superintendent 
learned  that  we  were  Americans,  he  gave  us  every  facility,  and  remarked 
that  we  must  not  expect  poor  Norway  to  rival  rich  America  in  its  provi- 
sion for  the  unfortunate. 

In  every  such  institution  there  is  a  painful  commingling  of  tragedy  and 
comedy,  and  he  who  gleans  materials  for  romances  need  only  acquire  a 


50          A  PICTURESQUE  JOURNEY,  AND  AN  ANCIENT  CAPITAL. 

knowledge  of  the  causes  which  have  produced  mental  alienation.  Here 
is  a  young  woman,  betrayed  and  ruined  by  one  whom  she  loved.  Yonder 
a  man  who  was  convinced  that  he  had  invented  something  which  was  to 
revolutionize  the  world  and  reward  him  in  honor  and  money.  The  tall 
man  standing  in  the  corner  communing  with  himself,  lost  all  his  property 
through  an  unfortunate  speculation  ;  while  the  short  stout'  woman  who 
alternates  songs  with  shrieks,  is  the  widow  of  a  sea  captain  who  sailed 
away  upon  a  voyage  which  had  no  end,  for  he  has  never  returned.  He 
who  talks  a  mixture  of  English,  German,  French  and  Norwegian  is  a 
poor  old  soldier  who  came  home  to  his  native  country  after  a  life-time  of 
wandering,  and  was  made  wretched  by  the  discovery  that  all  his  friends 
were  dead  ;  while  not  far  from  him  is  the  son  of  a  rich  man  who  ruined 
himself  by  squandering  his  inheritance.  I  found  here  a  proof  that  human 
nature  and  its  vicissitudes  are  the  same  in  all  countries.  The  foregoing 
is  not  an  imaginary  sketch,  but  a  brief  outline  of  the  histories  which  were 
elicited  in  conversation. 

As  we  were  passing  along  the  streets  of  Trondhjem,  Mr.  Hendrickson 
was  accosted  by  a  young  Norwegian  who  had  been  in  America  for  some 
years  working  in  a  manufacturing  establishment  near  his  office.  He 
was  on  a  visit  to  his  native  land,  and  though  he  had  little  acquaintance 
with  my  companion,  joyfully  recognized  him.  This  young  man  was  very 
attentive,  and  the  day  before  we  left  the  city  brought  from  his  moth- 
er's garden,  which  was  some  miles  in  the  country,  a  large  bouquet  of  roses 
which  he  presented  to  us  as  a  tribute  of  respect. 

But  he  did  us  a  much  greater  service.  He  introduced  us  to  the 
travelling  master-mechanic  of  The  Baldwin  Locomotive  Works,  who 
had  been  for  many  months  in  Trondhjem,  "setting  up"  some  loco- 
motives for  the  Government  railway.  It  appears  that  the  monster 
engines,  the  most  powerful  in  the  world,  are  shipped  in  pieces  and  put 
together  on  arrival  at  the  place  of  destination.  This  requires  months 
of  careful  work  under  the  superintendence  of  a  master  engineer.  We 
visited  the  works,  and  received  a  courteous  and  full  explanation  of  all 
the  proceedings,  from  the  manufacture  of  the  separate  parts,  the  packing 


A  PICTURESQUE  JOURNEY,  AND  AN  ANCIENT  CAPITAL.          51 

and  shipping,  the  length  of  the  voyage,  the  unpacking  and  setting  UD, 
to  the  final  delivery. 

An  engine  of  the  largest  size  stood  there  apparently  complete,  but 
through  an  ertor  in  packing  a  single  piece,  one  of  a  smaller  size  having 
been  put  in  by  mistake,  it  could  not  be  delivered  until  another  arrived 
from  Philadelphia. 

Seeing  no  "cow-catcher,"  I  learned  that  they  are  not  used  in  Sweden 


ST.  OLAF'S  CATHEDRAL. 

and  Norway.  Cattle  are  not  allowed  to  run  at  large,  and  the  tracks  are 
fenced  and  carefully  guarded. 

I  noticed  that  some  of  the  engines  had  American  names,  such  as 
Franklin,  Jefferson,  etc.,  and  asked  if  they  were  not  changed  by  the  pur- 
chasers after  delivery.  The  answer  elicited  a  most  interesting  incident 
of  King  Oscar  and  "Washington." 

The  representative  of  the  Baldwin  works  told  us  that  some  years 
before,  he  had  to  deliver  a  very  powerful  locomotive  to  the  Swedish  Gov- 
ernment. A  special  train  of  great  length,  filled  with  officials,  and  carry- 


52          A  PICTURESQUE  JOURNEY, 'AND  AN  ANCIENT  CAPITAL. 

ing  King  Oscar  II.  and  his  staff,  came  to  the  rendezvous  at  the  time  set. 
It  was  drawn  by  two  English  engines.  The  plan  was  for  the  train  to 
continue  to  a  town  a  considerable  distance  beyond,  and  the  line  to  which 
was  up  a  very  steep  grade.  The  Swedish  engineers  proposed  to  take  off 
one  of  the  engines  and  put  the  new  American  engine  in  its  place.  The 
agent  of  the  Baldwin  Works,  confident  that  it  could  pull  the  train 
unaided,  after  some  trouble  persuaded  the  engineers  to  consent.  With- 
out any  difficulty  the  feat  was  performed.  When  the  destination  was 
reached  King  Oscar  got  out  of  the  train,  walked  all  around,  and  critically 
examined  the  monster  engine  whose  name  was  the  "Washington." 
Then  said  he :  "  Was  there  anything  in  that  name  which  enabled  it  to 
perform  this  great  feat  ?  " 

While  in  Trondhjem  I  heard  an  incident  which  shows  that  the  tender 
sentiment  will  move  King  Oscar.  In  a  church  of  that  city  a  young  min- 
ister assisted  the  pastor.  Among  the  accessions  was  a  young  lady,  the 
daughter  of  members  of  the  State  Church.  My  informant  said  that  when 
the  younger  minister  departed  "he  took  this  young  lady's  heart  with 
him,  but  left  his  own  in  exchange."  Her  parents  did  not  object  to  her 
marriage,  and  they  were  betrothed.  But  the  law  forbids  a  person  to 
leave  the  State  Church  until  he  or  she  is  nineteen  years  old.  The  young 
lady  was  but  eighteen.  They  did  not  wish  to  wait  a  year,  so  the  pastor 
wrote  the  facts  to  King  Oscar  II.,  whereupon  he  issued  a  decree  to  the 
Bishop,  who  made  an  order  to  the  Provost  who  communicated  the  man- 
date to  the  Praest,  that  this  young  lady  might  leave  the  church  before 
she  was  nineteen  years  old. 

I  was  introduced  to  one  of  the  persons  by  another  of  the  three  con- 
cerned in  the  transaction. 


CHAPTER   V. 

NORTHWARD    ALONG    THE    NORWEGIAN    COAST. 

FROM  my  childhood  I  have  had  the  greatest  respect  for  the  Arctic 
Circle.  A  humorous  English  writer  observes  that  the  man  who 
does  not  revere  the  Equator  shows  a  destitution  of  reverence.  I  have 
never  been  wanting  in  respect  for  the  Equator,  but  have  been  profoundly 
impressed  by  the  Arctic  Circle. 

The  origin  of  this  difference  of  feeling  is  too  subtle  for  analysis.  Pos- 
sibly it  may  be  connected  with  the  pictures  of  polar  bears  and  icebergs 
which  delighted  me  when  in  the  most  impressible  period ;  or  with  the 
thrilling  accounts  of  the  achievements  and  sufferings  of  the  explorers 
who  through  the  ages  have  sought  to  reach  the  pole  ;  or  the  pathetic 
tale  of  Lady  Franklin's  life-long  search  for  her  lost  husband. 

In  later  years  the  graphic  descriptions  of  Longfellow,  the  very  inter- 
esting letters  published  in  the  New  York  Tribune  by  the  Rev.  Charles  C. 
Tiffany,  rector  of  Zion  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  New  York  City, 
and  the  recently  published  work  of  Paul  B.  DuChaillu  intensified  and 
enlightened  the  interest.  After  reading  Longfellow  I  said,  "  I  should 
like  to  stand  upon  the  North  Cape."  At  the  conclusion  of  the  perusal 
of  Mr.  Tiffany's  letters,  the  journey  began  to  seem  practicable.  On 
finishing  DuChaillu's  "  Land  of  the  Midnight  Sun,"  the  resolution  was 
formed  that  the  next  time  I  should  cross  the  Atlantic  I  would  stand 
where  he  stood,  and  see  what  he  saw. 

My  passage  to  the  North  Cape,  upon  the  steamer  Harkon  Jarl,  had 
been  secured  by  correspondence  before  leaving  New  York.  I  had  also 
the  good  fortune  to  meet  in  the  city  of  New  York  the  special  agent 
of  that  line  of  steamers  in  Christiania.  On  arriving  in  Christiania  I 
called  upon  the  agent,  who  courteously  received  me  and  imparted  much 

valuable  information. 

S3 


54  NORTHWARD   ALONG   THE   NORWEGIAN    COAST. 

Mr.  Wahlstrom,  a  citizen  of  Trondhjem,  to  whom  we  had  had  letters 
of  introduction,  accompanied  us  to  the  steamer.  We  owed  to  him  the 
consideration  received  at  the  Lunatic  Asylum,  the  visit  to  which  was 
described  in  the  last  chapter.  I  had  spent  the  early  part  of  the  evening 
at  his  residence.  Between  ten  and  eleven  o'clock  it  was  light  enough 
for  me  to  see  to  write  a  letter.  About  half-past  ten  I  complained  of 
being  unable  to  see  quite  distinctly,  and  asked  for  a  light.  After  con- 
siderable search  the  lady  of  the  house  reported  that  she  could  not  find 
any  illuminating  materials,  and  apologized  by  saying  that  they  had  had 
no  occasion  to  use  a  light  for  the  last  three  months.  Then  she  raised 
the  curtain,  and  sufficient  light  came  through  the  window  to  make  it  pos- 
sible to  finish  the  letter. 

At  half-past  eleven  we  went  on  board  the  steamer.  My  son  and  my- 
self were  quartered  in  the  post-office,  the  season  being  so  far  advanced 
that  that  apartment  was  no  longer  used  for  its  original  purpose.  We 
had  ample  accommodations,  and  the  privilege  of  looking  at  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  or  two  hundred  pigeon-holes  that  were  empty  during  the 
entire  voyage.  The  tables,  chairs,  abundance  of  light,  ease  of  motion, 
and  removal  from  the  noise  of  the  rest  of  the  passengers,  made  the 
room  satisfactory.  Our  legal  travelling  companion  had  a  small  state- 
room at  some  distance  from  us. 

Precisely  at  midnight  we  began  the  voyage  of  more  than  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  miles,  going  and  returning  —  a  voyage  which  on  the 
ordinary  mail  steamers  requires  from  twelve  to  fifteen  days,  but  on  the 
"  express  boats,"  that  run  only  while  the  tourist  season  lasts,  is  accom- 
plished in  eight  or  nine  days.  It  was  light  enough  at  midnight  to  read 
an  ordinary  newspaper  upon  the  deck  of  the  ship.  We  soon  retired  to 
our  berths,  and  at  seven  o'clock  on  Monday  morning  rose  and  looked 
upon  a  wild  scene.  The  wind  was  blowing  and  the  sea  raging.  The 
steamer  itself  was  a  very  fine  vessel,  made  for  speed  and  comfort.  All 
its  appointments  were  good  ;  the  table  laden  with  very  excellent  and 
well-cooked  food,  with  an  abundant  variety. 

It  need  not  be  supposed   that  any  hardship  whatever  attended  this 


NORTHWARD  ALONG   THE    NORWEGIAN   COAST.  55 

voyage.  There  was  very  little  seasickness,  take  it  as  a  whole.  With  the 
exception  of  much  rainy  weather,  it  was  as  comfortable  a  voyage  as  I 
have  ever  made.  For  the  greater  part  of  the  distance  the  course  of  the 
vessel  lay  within  the  belt  of  islands,  and  very  little  of  the  journey  was 
upon  the  open  sea.  Views  of  the  ocean,  however,  were  often  had.  A 
guide-book  truthfully  states  that  a  "  cruise  in  one  of  the  coasting 
steamers  rather  resembles  a  stay  at  a  large  hotel  than  a  sea  voyage." 

As  the  captain  and  several  of  the  officers  spoke  both  English  and 
German,  and  were  very  polite,  all  reasonable  questions  were  sure  of  a 
prompt  answer.  And  as  there  was  no  clanger  at  any  time,  the  officers 
were  not  compelled  to  be  blunt,  as  they  often  are  upon  the  sea-going 
steamers,  but  were  willing  to  converse  with  passengers  at  almost  any 
length. 

Late  as  the  season  was,  the  cabin  was  well  filled.  Of  Americans  there 
were  a  gentleman  travelling  with  three  ladies,  a  Unitarian  minister  from 
Charlestown,  Mass.,  a  clergyman  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  our  party  of  three.  Of  Englishmen  there 
were  a  young  Oxford  student,  and  a  young  lawyer  from  Australia  accom- 
panied by  his  uncle,  a  retired  merchant  of  Glasgow.  The  Oxford 
student  had  considerable  reading  to  do  with  reference  to  some  examina- 
tion which  he  had  to  pass.  A  Russian  doctor,  a  very  learned  man,  was 
accompanied  by  his  daughter.  A  large  number  of  Germans  from 
different  parts  of  that  empire  were  on  board. 

It  was  found  that  there  were  representatives  of  eleven  different  nations 
among  the  passengers,  and  that  of  these  nine  could  speak  English. 

A  Swedish  sculptress  attracted  a  good  deal  of  attention.  She  was  of 
masculine  appearance,  had  a  different  head-dress  and  travelling  suit  for 
every  day  of  the  entire  trip,  and  sometimes  changed  her  attire  two  or 
three  times  a  day.  As  a  pedestrian,  and  as  a  converser  with  all  classes 
and  in  several  languages,  and  at  the  table,  she  exhibited  an  energy  which, 
applied  to  her  profession,  if  directed  by  taste  and  skill,  must  achieve  high 
success. 

The  Germans  were  a  mirthful  party.     They  smoked,  chatted,  argued  ; 


56  NORTHWARD   ALONG   THE   NORWEGIAN    COAST. 

sang,  and  drank  wine  and  beer  from  the  time  we  left  Trondhjem  until 
we  returned.  Almost  all  professions  were  represented  among  them  — 
the  lawyer,  the  judge,  the  railway  director,  the  professor,  the  physician 
and  the  student.  Among  them  was  a  very  small  man,  who  was  little 
more  than  a  dwarf.  He  had  a  large  head,  great  simplicity  of  manners, 
and  fine  flow  of  speech,  and  did  not  know  when  he  was  laughed  at.  A 
huge  German  said  of  him,  in  broken  English,  that  he  was  "  the  smallest 


TORGHAKTTA    FROM    THE    EAST. 


man  and  the  biggest  fool"  on  the  trip.  His  politeness,  knowledge  of 
books,  and  general  desire  to  please,  made  him,  however,  a  pleasant  addi- 
tion to  the  company. 

Qne  of  the  most  interesting  experiences  of  the  trip  was  to  note  how 
the  various  scenes,  so  unlike  anything  that  most  had  seen,  affected  the 
representatives  of  different  nations.  The  Scotchman  was  cool,  observ- 
ant, and  laconic.  The  Germans,  stimulated  by  the  wine  and  beer  which 
they  drank,  were  as  expressive  and  demonstrative  as  the  average  French- 
man. The  Russian  doctor,  as  became  a  man  who  had  travelled  in  many 


NORTHWARD   ALONG   THE   NORWEGIAN   COAST.  57 

* 

lands,  who  was  familiar  with  many  literatures,  and  who  could  converse  in 
his  solemn,  stately  way  in  every  language  spoken  on  the  continent  of 
Europe,  was  grave  and  silent  except  when  drawn  out  in  private  conver- 
sation. What  he  lacked  in  fluency  of  speech  his  daughter  supplied  —  a 
pleasant,  smiljng  young  lady,  who  had  as  much  pleasure,  in  her  way, 
during  the  tour  as  any  other  passenger. 

The  little  Norwegian  vessels,  with  their  peculiar  "  raised  cabins," 
rigged  with  a  single  square  sail,  were  seen  with  their  cargoes  of  wood 
and  dried  fish.  It  is  said  that  these  vessels,  both  in  build  and  rig,  are 
the  lineal  descendants  of  the  piratical  craft  of  the  ancient  Vikings,  and 
certainly  some  of  them  in  their  shape  much  resembled  the  ship  which 
the  writer  saw  in  Christiania.  One  of  these  vessels  we  saw  had  a  cargo 
of  coffins  filled  with  bread  and  rusk.  Another  was  laden  with  marble 
to  be  used  for  reconstructing  the  cathedral  at  Trondhjem. 

The  shores  were  rocky,  and  in  some  places  covered  with  fish  spread 
out  to  dry.  Passengers  were  on  the  lookout  for  the  marks  on  the  rocks 
of  the  white  planks  in  the  water  used  to  entrap  the  salmon,  which  mis- 
take them  for  the  white  waterfalls,  and  swim  into  the  nets.  I  was  not 
satisfied  that  any  of  these  were  identified,  but  they  must  be  somewhere, 
for  the  guide-book  says  so  ! 

As  we  saw  all  the  scenery  of  this  voyage,  passing  by  night  on  the 
journey  to  the  North  Cape  what  we  passed  by  day  on  the  return,  I  shall 
make  no  distinction  in  the  narrative  between  the  night  and  day  voyages. 
For  a  long  distance  the  voyage  lay  through  a  large  number  of  small 
islands,  from  some  of  which  rise  hills  and  conical-shaped  rocks,  producing 
a  very  peculiar  effect.  A  mountain  called  the  Lecko  is  noted  for  a  very 
singular  legend.  It  is  said  to  represent  a  giantess  who  was  pursued  by 
her  brother  while  her  lover  attempted  to  rescue  her.  The  legend  says 
that  the  hat  of  the  giantess  was  pierced  by  an  arrow  shot  by  her  lover, 
when  the  sun  shone  through  the  hole  made  by  the  arrow  and  transformed 
the  maiden  into  stone  as  suddenly  as  Lot's  wife  was  turned  into  a  pillar 
of  salt,  the  pursuer  being  at  that  time  "  only  one  hundred  and  five  Eng- 
lish miles  off."  Some  of  the  sailors  took  off  their  hats  to  the  Giantess  ; 


$8  NORTHWARD   ALONG    THE   NORWEGIAN   COAST. 

but  since  public  attention  has  been  attracted  to  it,  the  ancient  custom  is 
but  little  observed. 

The  next  object  of  marked  interest  was  the  island  of  Torgen.  The 
island  contains  what  is  called  the  TorgJiaetta,  the  meaning  of  which  is 
the  "market  hat."  This  resembles  a  hat  about  eight  hundred  feet  high, 
floating  on  the  sea.  Through  the  centre  of  this  hat  is  an  aperture.  In 


A   NORWEGIAN    FISHING   VESSEL. 


passing  through  between  the  island  and  the  mainland  the  sky  is  visible 
on  this  side.  The  Torghaetta  is  a  curious  natural  tunnel,  sixty-two  feet 
high  at  the  entrance,  two  hundred  and  three  in  the  middle,  and  two 
hundred  and  forty-six  on  the  west  side.  Like  the  Giant's  Causeway,  the 
sides  look  as  if  they  had  been  "artificially  chiseled." 

In  order  that  we  might  enjoy  the  marvellous  view  from  the  interior  of 


NORTHWARD   ALONG   THE    NORWEGIAN   COAST.  59 

the  tunnel,  of  the  sea,  with  its  islands  and  rocks,  the  steamer  came  to 
anchor  and  we  went  ashore.  Walking  half  a  mile,  we  climbed  to  the 
entrance,  passed  through,  and  those  of  us  who  cared  to  do  so,  obtained 
the  view,  first  of  the  sea  from  the  entrance,  then  from  the  centre,  and 
finally  from  the  western  end.  The  view  below  from  the  west  of  the 
plain  includes  several  small  farmhouses  standing  in  the  midst  of  mead- 
ows, in  which  women  dressed  in  bright  colors  were  at  work  with  the  men 
gathering  in  the  hay.  It  is  impossible  to  imagine  a  more  charming  con- 
trast than  the  view  of  the  cavern  within,  and  the  mountains  and  the  sea 
to  the  east,  and  the  meadows  and  farmhouses  to  the  west.  Mere  words 
cannot  depict  it.  All  that  one  of  the  most  enthusiastic  writers  could  find 
to  say  is  this  :  "  The  view  of  the  sea,  with  its  countless  mountains  and 
rocks,  seen  from  this  gigantic  telescope,  is  indescribably  beautiful  and 
impressive." 

Reclus,  the  French  geographer,  describes  it  thus  :    "  One  of  the  most 
imposing  grottoes  in  the  whole  world  is  that  which  penetrates  the  splendid 
rock  of  Torghaetten,  rising  like  an  enormous 
pyramid  "to  more  than  nine  hundred  feet,  on  an 
island    of    Northern    Norway.      This    gallery, 
through  which  seamen  see  the  light  glimmer- 
ing, is  of  astonishing  regularity.     The  thresh- 
olds  of    the    immense    portals,    one   of  which 
has  an  arch  of  nearly  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  feet,  and  the  other  of  nearly  one  hundred 
and   forty-four  feet   span,    are  found  on    each 
side  to  have  the  same  elevation  of  three  him-         THE  NATURAL  TUNNEL 
dred  and  seventy-five  feet  above  the  level  of       ™ROUGH  TORGHAETTEN. 
the  sea.     The  ground,  covered  with  fine  sand,  is  almost  level,  and  formed 
like  the  floor  of  a  tunnel,  where  carriages  might  roll.     The  lateral  walls 
present  almost  throughout  a  polished  surface,  as  if  they  had  been  cut  by 
the  hand  of  man,  and  rise  vertically  to  the   spring  of  the  arch  ;   only 
toward  the  centre  of  the  grotto  the  vault  is  less  elevated  than  at  the  two 
extremities.     Seen  through  this  gigantic  telescope,  nine  hundred  feet 


6o 


NORTHWARD   ALONG   THE   NORWEGIAN    COAST. 


long,  the  promontories,  islets,  innumerable  reefs,  and  the  thousand  white 
crests  of  breakers,  form  a  spectacle  of  incomparable  beauty,  especially 
when  the  sun  illuminates  the  whole  landscape  with  its  rays." 

Proceeding  north  we  saw  before  us  the  imposing  Seven  Sisters.  On 
the  east,  a  very  lofty  mountain,  rising  three  thousand  three  hundred  and 
eighty  feet  perpendicularly  from  the  level  of  the  sea,  while  on  the  right 
is  a  very  conspicuous  red  hill.  The  Seven  Sisters  are  three  thousand 
feet  high,  and  consist  of  six  mountains,  the  summit  of  one  of  which  is 


THE    SEVEN    SISTERS. 


divided  so  as  to  produce  the  effect  of  two.     For  several  hours  the  view  of 
these  seven  mountains  is  the  most  striking  feature  of  the  scenery. 

When  the  "  singularly  shaped  islands  of  Lovunden  and  the  group  of 
Threnen  "  came  into  view  all  on  board  were  interested.  The  islands  of 
Lovunden  are  two  thousand  feet  high,  and  the  group  of  Threnen  consists 
of  four  very  precipitous  islands  which,  though  thirty  miles  away,  seem 


NORTHWARD    ALONG   THE    NORWEGIAN    COAST. 


61 


but  a  very  short  sail  in  clear  weather.  The  guide-books  quote  an 
ancient  Norwegian  proverb  as  follows :  "  Se !  hvordan  han  Inder  den 
gamle  Lovund."  The  translation  of  this  sentence  is,  "  See  how  it  over- 
hangs, the  ancient  Lovund."  Another  ancient  Norwegian  proverb  is, 
"  Hestemanden  tute,  Lovunden  lute,  og  Threnen  er  laengere  ute"  The 
translation  of  this  is,  "  The  Hestemand  blows  his  horn,  the  Lovund  over- 
hangs, the  Threnen  lies  farther  out." 

Baedeker  declares  that  the  Hestemans,  one  thousand  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  high,  is  the  most 
interesting  island  in  the  archi- 
pelago. The  meaning  of  this 
word  is  "  the  horseman's 
island."  It  certainly  greatly 
resembles  a  horse  and  its 
rider,  with  a  long  cloak  hang- 


down from  the  rider  and 


THE    HESTEMANS. 


partly    covering    the    horse. 

Both  the  head  of  the  horseman  and  that  of  the  horse  are  distinctly  seen. 

Before  reaching  this  point  we  had  become  convinced  of  the  truth  of  a 
description  read  before  beginning  the  journey  :  "The  weather,  the  winds, 
and  the  fogs,  the  play  of  light  and  shade,  the  purity  of  the  atmosphere, 
are  all  quite  unlike  the  same  natural  features  in  other  parts  of  Europe." 

Many  years  ago  when  I  returned  full  of  enthusiasm,  from  a  first  visit 
to  the  Alps,  and  described  what  I  had  seen  to  an  old  traveller,  at  the  end 
of  each  period  he  would  say  :  "  Norway,  my  friend  !  Norway !  You  want 
to  go  to  Norway ! "  At  last  growing  impatient,  I  said, 

"You  don't  appear  to  consider  the  Alps  worth  seeing." 

"O  yes,"  said  he,  "they  are;  but  you  want  to  go  to  Norway,  my 
friend.  There  the  ocean  and  the  mountains  struggle  for  the  supremacy. 
The  atmosphere  serves  them  both  ;  its  translucent  purity  makes  the 
ocean  greater,  the  mountains  more  sublime.  You  wish  that  you  were 
an  eagle  and  might  fly  from  the  summit  of  the  loftiest  mountain  down  to 
the  sea  and  catch  a  fish,  and  then  soar  to  the  mountain  tops  to  eat  it." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

AMONG    THE    GLACIERS    BEYOND    THE    ARCTIC    CIRCLE. 

AT  this   point    we    crossed    the  Arctic  Circle    in  latitude  sixty-six 
degrees  fifty  minutes.     The  Government  has  erected  a  peculiar 
monument  ther'e.     As  I   passed  the  Arctic  Circle,   and   found  myself 
within  the  limits  of  the  North  Frigid  Zone,  I  confess  to  have  been  more 
thrilled  than  I  had  ever  been  up  to  that  time. 

The  Glacier  of  the  Svartisen  is  "  an  enormous  mantle  of  snow  and 
ice,"  equal  to  anything  in  Switzerland  —  forty-four  miles  long  and  twelve 
miles  wide,  containing  five  hundred  square  miles,  and  extending  over  a 
vast  mountain  plateau  which  is  between  four  thousand  and  five  thousand 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Down  from  this  lofty  plain,  from  which 
rise  a  few  elevations,  giving  it  the  appearance  of  a  succession  of  peaks, 
the  glacier  descends,  reaching  within  a  few  feet  of  the  sea.  On  the  way 
north  we  saw  these  beneath  the  evening  light,  and  on  the  way  back,  at 
two  p.  M.,  we  went  ashore  and  explored  the  glacier  for  two  or  three 
hours.  At  its  base  is  a  large  lake,  in  the  centre  of  which  there  were  some 
islands  of  yet  unmelted  ice,  while  the  stream  which  ran  from  the  glacier 
was  about  thirty  feet  in  width  and  six  or  eight  feet  in  depth,  and  ran 
with  the  force  and  beauty  of  a  cataract  toward  the  sea.  It  has  a  short 
journey  into  the  ocean,  accomplished  in  less  than  five  minutes.  Leav- 
ing the  large  number  of  passengers,  who  were  wandering  up  the 
glacier,  I  pursued  this  stream  up  to  its  source,  and,  standing  in  the  hol- 
low, surrounded  by  vast  masses  of  ice,  beyond  the  reach  of  human  voice, 
and  out  of  sight  of  anything  that  man  has  made,  beholding  on  either 
side  "the  precipitous,  black,  jagged  rocks,  forever  shattered,  and  the 
same  forever,"  the  scene  which  I  then  saw  was  as  worthy  of  the 
genius  of  Coleridge  as  the  Valley  of  Chamouni.  Then,  climbing  up  on  the 

62 


AMONG   THE   GLACIERS   BEYOND   THE    ARCTIC   CIRCLE.          63 

hill  just  opposite  the  glacier,  I  gazed  upon  the  lake  and  upon  the  moun- 
tains. Turning  around,  I  saw  before  me  the  sea.  Upon  it  were  a 
few  fishing-smacks.  In  the  distance  a  small  steamer  could  be  seen 
making  its  way  to  the  south,  and  at  anchor,  a  few  yards  from  the  shore, 
lay  the  Harkon  Jarl,  a  thing  of  beauty,  while  about  it  careered  the 
sea-fowl,  watching  for  the  offal  which  from  time  to  time  was  thrown 
overboard. 

Amid  all  this  desolation  a  little  farmhouse,  standing  in  the  midst  of  a 
meadow,  but  with  various  indications  of  civilization,  was  not  the  least 


ON   THE    EDGE   OF   THE   SVARTISEN    GLACIER. 


pleasing  to  the  eye.  Without  it,  "  the  convulsive  and  resistless  elements 
of  nature"  were,  indeed,  sublime,  but  merciless  and  cold.  With  it, 
the  shipwrecked  sailor  or  exhausted  traveller  may  hope  to  find  warm 
hearts  and  kindly  welcome. 

As  we  proceeded  northward  we  caught  our  first  glimpse  of  the 
Lofoden  Islands.  The  very  remarkable  promontory  of  Kunnen,  lacking 
only  five  feet  of  being  two  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  was 
a  striking  object.  It  is  visited  by  most  tremendous  storms,  and  the 
breakers  are  frequently  fifteen  to  twenty  fathoms  in  height.  The  sea 


AMONG   THE   GLACIERS    BEYOND   THE    ARCTIC   CIRCLE. 


was  quite  smooth  when  we  passed,  and  still  the  waves  dashed  ominously 
against  the  base  of  the  promontory.     Not  far  from  this  could  be  seen  the 

open  sea,  and  a  s  very  slight 
addition  to  the  motion  which 
we  had  at  that  time  would 
have  produced  seasickness. 

The  natural  history  of  Nor- 
way informs  us  that  when 
we  reach  this  promontory 
and  the  fjord  called  Beieren- 
fjord  —  a  very  narrow  gulf, 
on  each  side  of  which  are 
very  high  mountains  of  ex- 
treme steepness  —  we  have 
reached  the  northernmost 
limit  of  a  tree  with  which  all 
travellers  are  quite  familiar 
—  the  silver  fir.  From  this 
point  the  scenery  becomes 
still  -more  grand.  Snow-clad 
mountains  were  still  all 
around  us,  and  in  every  direc- 
tion peaks  that  seem  to 
pierce  the  sky  with  such 
wonderful  brightness  that 
they  seemed  worthy  of  the 
poet's  description. 


A    PINNACLE  OF   THH  SVART1SEN   GLACIER. 


Bathed  in  heaven's  own  light 

SO     cloSC     tO     the 


clouds  that  it  was  not  easy  to  say  where  the  earth  ended  and  the  sky 
began. 

The  steamer  entered  the  Saltenfiord.     Fortunately  the  weather   ad- 
mitted a  transient  view  of  the  Sulitjelma.     The  best  description  of  this 


AMONG   THE   GLACIERS   BEYOND   THE   ARCTIC   CIRCLE.          65 

"  spectacle  of  surpassing  grandeur"  that  I  have  seen,  is  by  an  author  to 
me  unknown.  The  paragraph,  quoted  in  various  works,  always  without 
the  author's  name,  is  prosaic  in  style,  but  furnishes  materials  of  which 
the  reader,  if  a  lover  of  the  sublime,  can  form  a  vivid  picture  for  himself. 

"  The  extensive  pedestal  of  the  gigantic  Sulitjelma,  which  is  formed 
of  a  kind  of  mica-slate  as  hard  as  glass,  rises  almost  immediately  from 
the  Langvand,  extends  from  east  to  west  for  upwards  of  a  mile,  slopes 
towards  the  south,  and  ascends  again  at  its  northern  margin,  where  it  is 
four  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty  feet  above  the  sea-level,  and 
where,  with  its  various  peaks,  it  assumes  a  nearly  semi-circular  form. 
The  mountain  is  covered  with  enormous  masses  of  snow,  which  have 
forced  the  glacier  to  descend  seven  hundred  feet  below  the  snow  line, 
and  it  culminates  in  two  colossal  peaks,  often  concealed  by  clouds,  the 
northernmost  of  which  is  six  thousand  four-  hundred  and  eighty-five  feet 
in  height,  while  between  them  the  tongue  of  the  glacier  descends  into 
the  narrow  valley.  The  South  peak  is  divided  by  a  deep  cleft  into  two 
rocky  pinnacles,  which,  as  well  as  the  North  peak,  rise  in  tremendous 
precipices  from  the  glacier  below.  To  the  North  extends  the  vast  and 
gently  sloping  glacier  of  the  Blaamand,  and  to  the  South  the  mountain  is 
adjoined  by  the  flat  Lairofjeld." 

Guide-books  say  that  the  name  Sulitjelma  is  a  compound  word  of  Lapp 
origin  signifying  "threshold  of  the  island  world."  They  also  state  that 
the  word  Blaamand  which  appears  in  the  above  quotation,  is  derived  from 
a  mass  of  blue  glacier  ice  somewhat  resembling  a  human  figure,  which 
becomes  visible  when  the  snow  melts. 

The  great  difference  between  Alpine  and  Norwegian  coast  mountain 
scenery  is  in  this  :  that  it  is  impossible  to  see  the  high  Alps  except  at  a 
great  distance  from  a  low  point,  or  from  a  lofty  elevation  which  is  nearer 
to  them.  Whereas  the  mountains  of  Norway  rise  almost  perpendicularly 
from  the  sea,  and  present  a  greater  mass  to  the  eye  of  the  observer  than 
can  be  seen  from  any  one  point  in  Alpine  scenery.  I  am  aware  of  the 
fact  that  the  view  of  Mont  Blanc  from  the  Breven,  and  the  Col  de  Balme, 
and  some  of  the  views  from  the  Rege  and  Lake  Luzerne  approach,  but 


66 


AMONG   THE    GLACIERS   BEYOND    THE    ARCTIC   CIRCLE. 


am  convinced  that  they  do  not  equal  the  spectacle  presented  when  stand- 
ing upon  a  ship's  deck  at  a  distance  of  less  than  half  a  mile  from  a  moun- 
tain mass  almost  perpendicularly  projected  upward  from  seven  to  eight 
thousand  feet  —  two  thirds  of  the  stupendous  bulk  being  above  the  snow 
line. 

At  last,  a  wild  rocky  harbor  opened  before  us,  and  the  steamer  came 
to  anchor  at  Bodo. 

This  is  an  important  place.  All  the  steamers  call  at  Bodo  for  coal, 
and  even  the  express  steamers  make  quite  a  long  stay.  It  has  a  popula- 


VIEW   OF   THE    LOFODENS. 


tion  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  hundred,  and  boasts  an  old  stone  church,  which 
has  in  it  ancient  pictures  and  coats-of-arms  of  noble  Danish  families. 
Just  a  little  beyond  the  town  can  be  seen  at  the  right  a  few  of  the 
Lofoden  Islands,  and  at  the  left  a  lofty,  snowy  range,  and  far  in  the  south 
the  Svartisen,  previously  described. 

The  upper  margin  of  the  Midnight  Sun  appears  for  the  first  time  to 
the  inhabitants  of  Bodo  on  the  thirtieth  of  May,  its  centre  on  the  first  of 


AMONG   THE   GLACIERS  BEYOND   THE   ARCTIC   CIRCLE.          67 

June,  and  the  whole  disk  on  the  third  of  June.  From  that  time  until 
the  eighth  of  July  the  whole  sun  is  above  the  horizon.  On  the  tenth  its 
centre  is  seen  for  the  last  time,  on  the  twelfth  of  July  the  margin  disap- 
pears, and  from  the  twelfth  of  July  the  night  increases,  until  finally  it  be- 
comes perpetual.  If  one,  therefore,  does  not  wish  to  go  any  further  than 
Bodo,  and  arrives  there  at  any  time  between  the  third  of  June  and  the 
eighth  of  July,  he  may  see  the  Midnight  Sun  and  live  in  its  beams,  unless 
clouds  should  intervene,  for  the  entire  period.  As  we  did  not  reach  Bodo 
until  late  in  July,  while  the  days  were  twenty-one  or  twenty-two  hours 
long,  the  Midnight  Sun  was  not  visible.  If  it  had  been  we  could  not 
have  seen  it,  for  a  heavy  mist  hung  dark  over  the  scene  for  the  greater 
part  of  the  time  that  we  were  there. 

Louis  Philippe  King  of  the  French  from  1830  to  1848,  the  immediate 
predecessor  of  Louis  Napoleon,  visited  Bodo  under  extraordinary  circum- 
stances. His  career  was  of  the  most  stormy  character  in  the  early  part 
of  his  life.  In  1793  he  was  suspected  of  having  taken  part  in  the  con- 
spiracies of  Dumouriez.  It  was  proposed  to  offer  a  reward  for  his  head. 
His  father,  the  famous  Philippe  Egalite,  was  arrested.  Louis  Philippe, 
his  sister,  and  Madame  de  Genlis  spent  some  time  in  wandering  about. 
Even  the  monks  of  St.  Gothard  would  not  give  him  shelter.  Afterward 
he  gave  lessons  in  mathematics  and  geography,  under  the  assumed  name 
of  Chaboud  La  Toure,  at  a  boarding-school  in  Switzerland.  Then  he 
went  to  Hamburg,  in  March,  1795,  expecting  to  come  to  the  United 
States,  having  secured  the  friendship  of  Gouverneur  Morris,  then  our 
Minister  in  France.  But  he  could  not  start  upon  the  tour  until  1796. 
Thinking  to  go  where  he  could  not  be  pursued,  between  March,  1795, 
and  January,  1 796,  he  explored  Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  Lapland,  and 
Finland.  When  he  arrived  at  Bodo,  he  took  the  name  of  Muller.  He 
was  at  this  time  accompanied  by  the  famous  Montjoye,  who  travelled 
under  the  assumed  name  of  Froberg.  They  show  the  place  where  Louis 
Philippe  was  entertained,  and  a  room  in  the  house  named  for  him. 

Celebrated  men  make  the  places  which  they  visit  celebrated.     This  an- 
cient Norwegian  town  was  worthy  of  a  visit  before  Louis  Philippe,  was 


68          AMONG   THE   GLACIERS   BEYOND   THE   ARCTIC   CIRCLE. 

entertained  there.  Its  worthiness  brought  him  there.  But  it  accounts 
him  among  the  most  celebrated  of  its  visitors.  In  1 796,  when  he  was  there, 
no  steamer  conveyed  him  safely  from  point  to  point,  but  in  the  small 
Norwegian  ships,  scarcely  as  large  as  an  average  fishing-smack,  he  went 
slowly  from  harbor  to  harbor. 

It  has  been  intimated  that  a  diary  of  the  tour  is  accessible,  and  abounds 
with  many  interesting  observations  made  by  him  and  Montjoye,  but  I 
do  not  know  that  such  a  diary  ever  existed. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE    LOFODEN    ISLANDS    AND    THE    MAELSTROM. 

WE  had  already  been  fascinated  by  the  magnificent  appearance  of 
the  Lofoden  Islands  as  seen  from  the  deck  of  the  steamer 
before  reaching  Bodo.  All  day  long  and  far  into  the  night  we  never 
tired  of  the  surprising  succession  of  cloud,  mountain,  glacier,  island  and 
ocean  billows. 

Of  these  islands,  Kieth  Johnston's  London  Geography  says  :  "  The 
most  important  of  the  many  lofty  islands  with  which  the  Atlantic  coast 
of  Norway  is  studded  is  the  mountainous,  granitic  group  of  the  Veste- 
raalen  (  sixty-eight  degrees  to  sixty-nine  degrees  north ),  which  runs  out 
southwestward  like  a  long  promontory  broken  through  by  narrow  tor- 
tuous fissures.  The  largest  of  the  group  is  Hifcdoe,  fifty  miles  long,  and 
the  five  islands  furthest  to  the  southwest,  including  the  West-Fjord,  are 
the  Lofoden,  which  sometimes  give  their  name  to  the  whole  group." 
This  is  a  correct  statement,  as  might  be  expected  from  such  authority 
and  from  such  a  work  —  the  best  general  and  descriptive  geography  in 
the  world  ;  but  it  gives  no  more  idea  of  the  spectacle  than  a  statement 
of  the  mathematical  measurements  of  the  sun  affords  of  the  brilliancy  of 
its  light  at  noonday.  The  islands  of  these  chains  are  separated  by  such 
narrow  streams  that  at  a  distance  of  a  few  miles  it  seems  difficult  to  be- 
lieve that  they  consist  of  different  bodies  of  land,  for  no  opening  in  the 
chains  of  mountains  is  visible. 

Another  writer  says  :  "  This  chain  forms  a  perfect  mass  of  moun- 
tains, bays  and  straits,  interspersed  with  thousands  of  small  rocky 
islets."  The  mountains  rise  immediately  from  the  sea.  Some  of  them 
are  nearly  four  thousand  feet  in  height,  and  constitute  a  kind  of  wall  — 
in  fact,  the  whole  range  is  called  the  "  Lofoden  Wall"-  — and  above  it 

69 


7o 


THE    LOFODEN    ISLANDS   AND   THE   MAELSTROM. 


are  innumerable  pinnacles  figuratively  spoken  of  as  "sharks'  teeth." 
Most  of  them  are  covered  with  snow,  and  such  as  are  not  are  spread 
with  green  moss,  which,  in  damp  weather,  looks  as  if  it  were  charged 
with  electricity. 

A  traveller  states  that  along  the  harbors  the  largest  vessels  look  like 
nutshells  as  they  lie  close  to  the  walls  of  rock  several  thousand  feet  high. 
On  one  side  these  islands  are  beaten  by  the  wild  waves  of  the  Arctic 
Ocean,  and  not  far  from  them  on  the  other  runs  the  Gulf  Stream.  We 
had  a  glimpse  of  them  at  ten  o'clock  at  night,  while  the  sun  was  still  up 
and  the  moon  was  as  pale  as  an  ordinary  cloud.  On  the  return  voyage 


THE    LOFODENS. 


wild  clouds -were  driven  about  the  sky,  broken  and  rent  by  the  silent 
mountain  peaks,  while  the  wind,  echoing  from  the  hills  nearer  at  hand, 
produced  an  effect  which  would  justify  some  of  the  weird,  mythical 
representations  of  the  battles  of  Odin  and  Thor. 

The  business  of  the  Lofoden  Islands  is  fishing.  There  is  hardly  any- 
thing for  the  people  to  live  on  upon  them,  but  much  around  them. 
Twenty-five  thousand  fishermen  are  employed  upon  the  coasts,  remaining 
there  only  about  three  months.  They  are  brought  up  upon  steamers 
from  below,  and  the  Harkonjarl,  among  others,  is  used  for  the  purpose 
of  transporting  them  ;  and  though  the  vessel  has  accommodations  for  only 
about  one  hundred  cabin  passengers,  it  is  allowed  to  carry  one  thousand 
of  these  sailors.  This  permission  is  given  only  upon  condition  that  the 


A    FISHING    BOAT. 


THE   LOFODEN    ISLANDS   AND   THE   MAELSTROM.  73 

steamer  under  no  circumstances  goes  into  the  open  sea.  The  fishermen 
employ  five  thousand  to  six  thousand  small  boats,  and  fish  about  the 
banks,  which  are  within  a  mile  of  the  islands.  The  shoals  of  cod  are  so 
dense  that,  on  their  way  to  the  great  banks  farther  north,  which  run  as 
far  north  as  Spitzbergen,  fishermen  can  catch  them  as  fast  as  they  can 
throw  in  their  lines.  An  average  haul  for  the  season  is  six  thousand  cod 
per  boat.  The  whole  yield  has  been  known  to  reach  thirty  million. 
Small  huts  are  built  for  the  accommodation  of  the  fishermen.  An  addi- 
tional minister  is  stationed  upon  the  island  during  the  season,  for  the 
purpose  of  performing  services  wherever  the  greater  number  of  fisher- 
men are. 

To  keep  the  peace,  no  opportunity  is  given  for  the  purchase  of  spirits. 
Fishermen  make  a  great  deal  of  money  in  good  seasons.  Some  very 
queer  things  are  done  here.  After  the  fish  are  cleaned,  and  dried  on 
wooden  frames,  they  are  called  torfisk.  If  they  are  slightly  salted  and 
dried  on  rocks,  they  are  called  klipfisk.  The  torfisk  go  to  Italy,  the  klip- 
fisk  to  Spain.  The  heads,  which  were  formerly  thrown  away,  are  now 
dried  by  fire,  pulverized,  and  used  for  manure.  In  some  plapes  they  are 
boiled  with  seaweed,  and  then  fed  to  cattle.  This  practically  changes 
the  cattle  from  herbivorous  to  carnivorous  animals. 

Great  numbers  of  sailors  lose  their  lives  in  this  work,  especially  in 
what  is  called  the  winter  fishery.  When  a  gale  from  the  west  springs 
up  they  cannot  get  back  in  their  little  boats  to  the  islands.  They  are 
driven  forty  or  fifty  miles  off  across  the  fjord,  and  often  upset.  When 
the  boats  are  picked  up  the  knives  of  the  crew  can  sometimes  be  found 
stuck  into  the  outside  of  the  vessel,  where  the  poor  men  held  on  until 
they  were  exhausted.  Some  boats  have  handles  for  the  purpose.  On 
the  eleventh  of  February,  1848,  five  hundred  fishermen  perished  in  this 
way.  The  islands  are  one  hundred  and  thirty  of  our  miles  in  length 
—  that  is,  the  entire  chain  of  Lofoden  and  Vesteraalen. 

I  have  collected  and  given  the  above  facts  that  some  idea  of  life  upon 
the  Lofoden  Islands  may  be  imparted.  I  heard  so  many  descriptions, 
and  saw  so  many  who  had  witnessed  this  lively  scene,  and  for  so  many 


74  THE    LOFODEN    ISLANDS   AND   THE   MAELSTROM. 

hours  in  going  and  coming  saw  the  islands,  that  it  almost  seems  as  if  I 
had  been  present  during  the  fishing  season. 

DuChaillu,  speaking  of  them,  says  :  "  They  are  unsurpassed  in  their 
wild  beauty.  The  tempestuous  sea  beats  almost  the  entire  time  against 
their  walls.  The  warm  Gulf  Stream  laves  their  shores.  As  one  sails 
among  them  their  fantastic  forms  are  ever  changing  in  appearance,  some 
of  their  peaks  appearing  like  needles  against  the  blue  sky.  Their  out- 
lines stand  out  clear  and  sharp,  and  their  color  grows  dimmer  and  dimmer 
as  they  fade  away  from  sight  like  a  vision  of  the  sea.  No  wonder  that 
in  ancient  times  the  mariner  regarded  them  almost  with  reverence,  and 
believed  that  a  maelstrom  should  guard  their  approach  from  the  south, 
so  beautiful  are  they." 

I  must  be  permitted  to  say  that  "beautiful"  is  not  the  word  to  apply 
to  these  mountain  islands.  They  answer  Edmund  Burke's  description  of 
the  sublime,  and  fully  confirm  and  illustrate  the  statement  of  that  great 
critic  :  "  What  are  the  scenes  of  nature  that  elevate  the  mind  in  the 
highest  degree,  and  produce  the  sublime  sensation  ?  Not  the  gay  land- 
scape, the  flowery  field,  or  the  flourishing  city,  but  the  hoary  mountain 
and  the  solitary  lake  —  the  aged  forest  and  the  torrent  falling  over  the 
rock  —  the  awful  precipice  —  the  ocean,  not  from  its  extent  alone,  but 
from  the  perpetual  motion  and  resistless  force  of  that  mass  of  waters." 
All  these  elements  are  united  in  this  scenery,  and  not  in  a  low,  but  in 
the  highest,  degree.  .  • 

We  now  drew  near  the  Maelstrom.  The  real  name  of  this  extraor- 
dinary whirlpool  is  the  Moskoestrom.  It  is  near  the  southern  extremity 
of  the  archipelago  of  the  Lofoden  Islands.  There  are  several  other  races 
or  whirlpools  of  the  same  sort,  and  one  very  extraordinary,  called  the 
Saltstrom,  is  found  further  south,  which  consists  of  three  very  narrow 
straits,  through  which  great  masses  of  water  have  to  pass  four  times  daily 
as  the  tide  pours  in  and  out.  They  form  a  tremendous  cataract,  and 
during  spring  tides  it  is  stated  by  Baedeker  that  no  vessel  dares  to  attempt 
the  passage,  and  that  the  violence  of  the  cataract  has  even  proved 
destructive  to  whales.  There  is  only  an  hour  or  two  at  high  or  low 


THE    LOFODEN    ISLANDS   AND   THE   MAELSTROM.  75 

tide  when  a  steamer  can  pass  through.  Baedeker  also  states  that  this 
surpasses  the  Maelstrom.  But  it  is  not  so  generally  known,  nor  are  there 
connected  with  it  the  legends  which  have  furnished  so  many  poets  and 
orators  with  similes  and  metaphors  surpassed  in  terribleness  only  by 
the  octopus  or  devil-fish.  The  explanation  of  the  Maelstrom  can  be  found 
in  The  Ocean,  by  Elisee  Reclus,  who  says  :  "  The  somber  imagination 
of  Northern  peoples,  always  tending  to  the  creation  of  monsters,  saw  in 
the  strait  of  the  Maelstrom  an  awful  polyp  with  arms  several  hundred 
yards  in  length,  which  caused  the  waters  to  whirl  in  an  immense  eddy  in 

order  to  draw  ships  into  it  and  engulf  them.     From  this  ancient  legend 

< 
there  is  even  yet  remaining  with  many  the  idea  that  this  current  is  a  sort 

of  abyss  in  the  form  of  a  funnel,  which  floating  objects  approach  by 
degrees,  forming  nearer  and  nearer  circles,  until  they  finally  plunge 
forever  into  this  revolving  wheel.  But  it  is  nothing  of  the  sort.  The 
only  eddies  are  small  lateral  ones,  produced  by  the  meeting  of  currents, 
and  hardly  two  or  three  yards  deep." 

Certainly  the  funnel  idea  existed  until  at  a  comparatively  recent  day.  I 
remember  to  have  heard  a  very  eminent  minister  appall  a  congregation 
by  a  description  of  the  Maelstrom,  myself  being  conscious  of  his  spell. 
He  represented  the  sinner  as  in  a  bark,  sailing  gayly  along,  with  a  clear 
sky  overhead  and  a  favoring  but  not  too  strong  wind.  All  was  bright, 
beautiful  and  hopeful.  He,  with  his  friends,  was  engaged  in  playing 
cards  upon  the  deck4  and  did  not  notice  the  tendency  of  the  vessel 
to  a  circular  movement.  At  first  it  was  very  slight.  But  after  a  while 
the  seamen  became  conscious  that  they  were  moving  in  a  circle.  They 
sprang  up  in  alarm,  and  cried,  "  The  Maelstrom  !  the  Maelstrom  ! " 
But  the  sinner  enjoyed  the  motion,  and  was  still  intent  upon  his  game, 
and  would  not  give  heed  to  the  warning  cry.  At  this  time,  according  to 
the  minister,  the  bark  was  supposed  to  be  about  twenty-five  miles  from 
the  danger,  and  it  was  easy  to  escape  it.  But  on  and  on  went  the  ship, 
drawing  still  nearer  and  nearer,  and  at  last  it  began  to  move  with  terrific 
fury.  The  seas  seemed  to  assume  the  form  of  a  vast  caldron,  around 
the  sides  of  which  the  bark  moved  at  the  rate  of  thirty  or  forty  miles  an 


76  THE    LOFODEN    ISLANDS   AND   THE   MAELSTROM. 

hour.  Now  every  effort  was  made.  The  mariners  struggled  against 
the  tide,  but  all  in  vain,  and  at  last,  with  one  wild  despairing  cry  of 
terror,  the  vessel  straightened  up  and,  assuming  the  perpendicular,  shot 
down  into  the  centre,  disappearing  forever  from  sight,  and  the  shrieks 
of  the  victims  mingled  with  the  dashing  of  the  waves  and  the  howling 
.of  the  winds. 

Such  descriptions  of  the  Maelstrom  are  chiefly  fanciful.  The  phe- 
nomenon is  produced  by  the  water  rushing  through  a  narrow  strait 
between  the  island  of  Moskene,  within  a  few  miles  of  which  we  sailed, 
and  a  large  and  solitary  rock  which  lies  in  the  middle  of  the  strait.  In 
1859  the  Norwegian  Hydrographic  Survey  included  the  examination  of 
the  Maelstrom  in  its  official  reports. 

The  facts  are  these  :  When  the  wind  is  steady,  and  net  too  violent, 
at  flood  and  ebb  tide,  the  whirlpool  is  still  for  half  an  hour.  Any  boats 
may  then  pass  through.  Half-way  between  flood  and  ebb  tide  it  becomes 
violent.  Boats  would  then  be  in  danger.  At  certain  times  it  can  be 
passed  at  any  state  of  the  tide  by  steamers  and  large  vessels  with  a 
steady  wind.  In  winter  —  in  storms  —  it  is  highly  dangerous  for  any 
vessel  to  attempt  to  pass  through.  In  winter,  when  a  storm  is  blowing 
from  the  west  the  strait  runs  eastward  at  the  rate  of  six  knots  an  hour. 
But  in  certain  states  of  the  wind  the  whole  stream  boils  in  mighty 
whirlpools,  against  which  the  largest  steamer  could  not  successfully 
contend. 

According  to  the  official  statistics  the  stream  during  westerly  gales 
runs  in  strong  whirls  with  a  speed  of  twenty-six  miles  an  hour.  At  such 
times  it  would  be  impossible  for  the  most  powerful  steamer  to  escape 
destruction.  But  it  is  obvious  and  indisputable  that  whirls  would  not 
draw  vessels  to  the  bottom,  but  would  dash  them  against  the  rocks,  and, 
in  the  case  of  smaller  vessels,  fill  them  with  water  and  sink  them.  Nor 
is  there  any  attraction  at  any  great  distance  from  the  straits  tending  to 
draw  vessels  therein.  No  doubt  small  boats  within  a  radius  of  a  few 
miles  would  get  into  a  current  difficult  to  resist,  but  the  whole  theory  of 
the  gradual  tendency  at  a  long  distance,  slowly  increasing,  and  finally 


THE    LOFODEN    ISLANDS   AND   THE    MAELSTROM.  .  77 

constituting  a  funnel  in  which  vessels  are  dashed  in  pieces,  is  a  delusion. 
We  passed  through  a  similar  strait  on  our  voyage,  waiting  for  the  tide  to 
allow  us  to  do  so,  and  had  the  opportunity  to  observe  the  phenomenon. 

The  steamer  continued  its  journey  in  the  midst  of  scenery  more  grand 
than  anything  to  be  found  upon  the  lakes  of  Switzerland.  Indeed,  if 
one  were  to  imagine  Lake  Luzerne  five  hundred  miles  long,  and  himself 
riding  upon  a  steamer  through  its  whole  course,  nothing  grander  than 
this  Norwegian  scenery  would  be  seen.  By  glacial  action  the  lower  part 
of  the  mountains  has  been  worn  smooth,  "  while  their  summits  are 
pointed  and  serrated  like  the  Aiguilles  [Needles]  of  Mont  Blanc."  In 
some  of  the  narrow  straits  through  which  the  steamer  passes  it  is 
possible  to  see  the  bottom  at  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Gissund  is 
such  a  strait,  and  the  water  is  of  a  clear,  green  color.  Soon,  reaching 
the  West  Fjord,  the  entire  Lofoden  range  comes  into  view.  The  sea 
itself  adds  immensely  to  the  effect,  while  as  one  turns  to  the  mainland, 
hundreds  of  snow-clad  peaks,  with  here  and  there  waterfalls  of  great 
height,  appear.  So  wondrous  is  the  general  effect  that  sometimes 
scenery,  which  would  give  many  parts  of  Europe  a  world-wide  fame,  here 
appears  tame. 

One  of  the  grandest  spectacles  was  an  expanse  of  water  resembling  a 
lake,  having  in  the  background  high  snow-mountains.  Who,  without 
seeing  it,  can  imagine  the  effect  ?  A  huge  mountain  with  a  large  glacier 
and  a  magnificent  cataract  upon  the  left  of  the  fjord  where  it  is  less  than 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  wide,  and  on  the  right  a  peculiar  peak  rising  per- 
pendicularly above  four  thousand  one  huifffred  and  twenty  feet.  This 
spectacle  we  saw  both  in  sunshine  and  in  storm.  All  along  were  snow- 
clad  mountains,  lofty  promontories,  glimpses  of  the  open  sea,  gulfs  as 
quiet  as  though  the  wind  never  blew  there,  harbors  from  which  there 
seemed  to  be  no  exit,  when  suddenly  the  lofty  mountains  would  open  and 
leave  a  space  not  much  larger  than  the  steamer  required  —  mountains 
over  five  thousand  feet  high,  exactly  resembling  extinct  volcanoes,  clouds 
upon  their  summits,  and  mists  ascending  and  descending,  with  here  and 
there  little  patches  of  meadow :  steamers,  and  fishing-boats  appearing 


THE   LOFODEN    ISLANDS   AND    THE    MAELSTROM.' 


and  disappearing,  sometimes  near  at  hand,  and  at  other  times  at  great 
distances,  the  sun  not  disappearing  until  nearly  midnight,  and  the  twi- 
light continuing  until  the  sun  returned  after  the  absence  of  two  or  three 
hours. 

Finally  we  reached  Tromsoe.  This  is  a  very  important  place.  It  has 
nearly  six  thousand  inhabitants,  is  situated  on  an  island  consisting  exclu- 
sively of  shelly  rock  with  a  slight  coating  of  vegetable  mold.  It  is  a  very 
warm  place  for  one  in  such  a  high  latitude,  and  contains  many  objects  of 


great  interest.     The  influence  of 
^  the  ocean  upon  it  is  such  that 

while  a  short  distance  inlandphe  average  annual  temperature  is  twenty- 
nine  degrees,  and  the  average  in  the  month  of  January  five  degrees,  at 
Tromsoe  the  average  annual  temperature  is  twenty-five  and  three  fifths, 
and  that  of  January  twenty-three  degrees. 

Here  is  something  not  often  seen  in  Norway  —  a  Roman  Catholic 
church.  Tromsoe  looks  very  much  like  any  prosperous  town  of 
Europe.  It  has  several  large  shops  ;  many  of  the  inhabitants  speak 
English  and  German,  and  some  French  in  addition  to  Danish,  Norwegian, 
and  Swedish.  Russian  is  not  unknown.  The  streets  are  properly  laid 


THE    LOFODEN    ISLANDS   AND   THE    MAELSTROM.  79 

out,  and  from  the  centre  of  the  town  snow-clad  mountains  can  be  seen. 
The  view  is  not  altogether  unlike  that  of  the  Wahsatch  Mountains  from 
the  streets  of  Salt  Lake  City.  There  is  also  a  museum  containing  many 
ethnographic  curiosities,  and  a  department  of  natural  history,  in  which 
there  is  an  excellent  collection  of  zoological  specimens.  Grammar 
schools,  a  kind  of  normal  institute  for  teachers,  banks,  telegraph  offices, 
and  other  fruits  of  civilization,  are  here  to  be  found  at  sixty-nine  degrees 
thirty-eight  minutes  north  latitude 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

AMONG    THE    LAPLANDERS. 

WE  spent  altogether  nearly  twenty-four  hours  at  Tromsoe,  and 
were  much  interested  in  wandering  about  the  harbor.  Several 
German  and  French,  and  one  or  more  Dutch  vessels,  were  there. 

Tromsoe  exports  fish,  herrings,  oil  and  furs.  Seeing  certain  vessels 
employed  in  the  Russian  trade,  and  others  which  were  being  equipped 
for  voyages  to  Spitzbergen  and  Nova  Zembla,  for  the  capture  of  seals 
and  walruses,  gave  us  a  realizing  sense  of  our  high  northern  latitude. 

A  very  interesting  detour  was  a  visit  to  an  encampment  of  Lapps. 
In  Norway  there  are  about  eighteen  thousand  Lapps,  and  in  Sweden 
and  Russia  about  twelve  thousand  more.  The  ancient  race  that  once 
ruled  the  whole  of  Scandinavia  has  dwindled  to  thirty  thousand.  Nearly 
two  thousand  of  the  Lapps  in  Norway  still  wander  from  place  to  place, 
and  within  four  or  five  miles  of  Tromsoe  there  is  a  Lapp  encampment, 
to  be  reached  in  a  walk  of  an  hour  or  an  hour  and  a  half.  Boats  and 
guides  are  telegraphed  for  by  the  captain  before  the  arrival  of  the 
steamer,  and  as  soon  as  the  party  is  made  up  they  cross  the  Sound, 
about  one  thousand  five  hundred  feet  wide,  and  enter  the  Tromsdal. 

Some  of  the  heavy  Germans  had  to  ride,  and  the  horses  provided, 
though  small  and  short-limbed  like  all  the  Norwegian  horses,  did  not 
seem  to  mind  the  weight  of  two  hundred  and  eighty  pounds  in  one  case, 
and  two  hundred  and  fifty  in  another,  and  walked  where  the  ground  was 
soft  and  marshy,  and  trotted  where  it  was  hard,  entirely  indifferent  to 
the  puffing,  heavy  rider.  At  last  a  sort  of  valley  in  the  shape  of  a  huge 
basin  was  reached.  On  one  side  rose  mountains,  and  on  the  other  hills, 
down  which  plunged  two  or  three  waterfalls. 

Here  is  settled  a  colony  of  Lapps  from  Northern  Sweden.  There  is  a 

80 


AMONG   THE    LAPLANDERS. 


81 


treaty  between  Sweden  and  Norway  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  old 
which  provides  that  Swedish  Lapps  can  go  to  the  coast  of  Norway  in 
summer,  and  Norwegian  Lapps  can  go  inland  to  Sweden  in  winter. 
There  were  five  families.  Their  huts,  made  of  stone,  birch-bark,  and 
turf,  without  a  window,  but  with  a  hole  at  the  top  to  let  out  smoke  and 
admit  light,  are  called  gammer.  In  the  centre  a  fire  is  always  burning, 
and  over  it  hangs  a  pot,  and  around  it,  upon  the  ground,  lie  the  family. 
They  have  a  herd  of  five  thou- 
sand reindeer.  But  there  is  a  „. 

-, 

little  enclosure  into  which  sev- 
eral hundred  of  them  are  driv- 
en to  be  milked  and  exhibited 
to  travellers. 

I  remained  there  until  the 
party  had  got  some  distance 
on  the  way  back  to  Tromsoe, 
carefully  observing  this  most 
peculiar  people.  We  were  LAPP  HUT. 

recommended  to  drink  the  reindeer  milk.  I  did  not,  because  I  saw  the 
Lapp  women  milk  the  animals.  Up  to  that  time  I  supposed  that  noth- 
ing could  prevent  me  from  trying  any  experiment  that  came  in  my 
way.  I  had  been  able  on  the  Western  plains  to  drink  milk  from  which 
insects  of  three  kinds  were  removed  in  my  presence,  and  a  specimen  of  a 
fourth  kind  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  tumbler,  and  had  risen  up  with 
composure ;  but  when  I  saw  the  Lapp  women  milk  the  reindeer,  I  made 
up  my  mind  that  unless  there  was  some  process  of  washing  the  milk,  I 
would  not  touch  it.  The  animals  were  shedding  their  coats  at  the  time, 
and  the  Lapp  women,  after  milking,  clutched  a  handful  of  hair  from  the 
side  of  the  animal,  used  it  as  a  kind  of  towel  upon  the  udder,  then  wiped 
their  hands  with  the  aforesaid  hair,  and,  for  a  reason  which  I  could  not 
discern,  placed  the  hair  in  a  bag,  which  they  carried  at  their  sides. 

Perceiving  that  capillary  specimens  were  largely  mixed  with  the  milk, 
I  cannot  tell  how  reindeer  milk  tastes.     The  guide-book  says  that  it  is 


82  AMONG   THE   LAPLANDERS. 

drunk  diluted  with  water,  and  that  it  is  very  rich  and  sweet.  The  rein- 
deer are  milked  only  twice  a  week.  Lapps  live  upon  it,  making  a  cheese 
out  of  it,  which  is  their  main  food  of  this  kind  in  the  winter. 

It  is  exciting  to  see  them  catch  the  reindeer.  One  of  the  short,  sturdy 
Lapps  would  take  a  lasso,  and  advance  upon  a  herd  of  perhaps  a  hundred, 
and  with  unerring  precision  throw  the  lasso  around  the  horns  of  an 
animal  who  meekly  submitted.  We  saw  two  or  three  hundred  reindeer 
run  perhaps  an  eighth  of  a  mile.  I  had  always  fancied  the  greyhound 
the  most  agile  runner.  It  is  still  my  ideal  of  graceful  running.  But  the 
reindeer  seemed  to  make  no  effort.  Their  motion  through  the  air  was 
suggestive  of  flying  rather  than  any  kind  of  locomotion  upon  the  surface 
of  the  earth. 

The  Lapps  are  very  shrewd.  Most  of  them  can  read.  They  make  a 
number  of  interesting  articles  :  fur  boots,  fur  bags,  spoons  made  of 
reindeer  horn  and  bone ;  and  in  the  centre  of  the  bowls  of  these  spoons 
appears  a  sketch  of  a  reindeer  made  by  the  Lapps.  If  the  spiritual 
rapping  mediums  had  knee  joints  like  reindeer  their  fortune  would  be 
made.  When  the  animal  moves,  the  joints  emit  sounds  like  an  electric 
battery.  It  is  well  known  that  many  of  the  rapping  mediums  produce 
raps  in  this  way.  , 

The  Fox  girls  were  thus  detected  and  exposed.  When  their  feet 
were  placed  upon  pillows  they  could  get  no  brace,  and  therefore  could 
not  produce  the  rap,  and  were  always  silent  unless  they  could  get  their 
Jieet  off  the  pillows,  which  they  were  several  times  detected  in  making 
the  attempt  to  do.  Boys  sometimes  have  the  same  power  of  cracking 
their  muscles,  as  it  is  called.  But  the  reindeer  when  they  move,  con- 
stantly produce  a  sharp,  cracking  sound,  much  like  the  cocking  of  a 
pistol  or  an  old-fashioned  musket. 

These  Lapps  were  very  dirty,  and  were  dressed  from  head  to  foot  in 
garments  made  of  reindeer  skins,  with  the  fur  turned  inside.  Both  men 
and  women  were  short,  and  thickset.  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that 
they  are  of  dark  complexion,  as  generally  represented.  Their  faces  so 
appear,  but  this  is  a  result  of  dirt  and  the  effects  of  the  wind.  I  saw 


AMONG   THE    LAPLANDERS. 


both  a  man  and  a  woman  roll  up  their  sleeves,  and  their  arms  were  as 
white  as  those  of  an  average  citizen  of  the  United  States.  Infants  are 
kept  clear  of  vermin  by  being  washed  once  a  day.  But  they  soon  get 
very  filthy. 

The  most  comical  scene  I  saw  in  the  whole  journey  was  a  little  Lapp 
baby,  just  able  to  walk,  dressed  heavily  in  garments  like  those  of  his 
parents.  He  had  in  one  hand  a  huge  sausage,  and  in  the  other  a  piece  of 
bread,  and  was  crying. 
The  tears  were  running  from 
his  eyes.  He  was  wailing, 
and,  in  the  interval  of  the 
wails,  was  breaking  off  a 
piece  of  the  sausage  and  a 
piece  of  the  bread,  and  try- 
ing to  continue  wailing  while 
masticating  the  huge  mouth- 
fuls.  Usually  a  crying  child 
will  excite  sympathy  in  the 
hardest  heart  if  the  said  child 
is  not  in  a  public  assembly, 
or  has  not  worn  out  the 
nerves  of  the  listeners.  But 
on  this  occasion,  as  there 
was  obviously  not  suffering 
enough  to  divert  his  attention  from  the  sausage,  he  got  little  sympathy. 

I  wish  that  I  could  place  before  the  reader  a  true  picture  of  these 
Lapps,  their  tents,  the  cradles  of  their  babies,  their  reindeer,  and  their 
dogs.  The  cradle  is  made  of  a  single  piece  of  wood,  little  less  than  three 
feet  long,  and  perhaps  eighteen  or  twenty  inches  wide,  covered  with  a 
skin.  It  looks  like  a  canoe  or  a  shoe.  In  very  cold  weather  they  put 
extra  skins  on,  the  mothers  sling  the  cradles  over  their  shoulders,  and 
carry  them  around  the  country. 

I  was  interested  to  inquire  on  what  the  Lapps  live.     Of  the  reindeer 


LAPP    CRADLE. 


86 


AMONG   THE    LAPLANDERS. 


milk  and  cheese  I  have  already  spoken.  Of  course  they  eat  the  meat  of 
reindeer,  and  a  great  deal  of  fish.  They  bake  bread  in  charcoal,  using 
no  yeast  in  connection  with  it.  They  dry  the  blood  of  the  reindeer,  and 
turn  it  into  a  powder,  mix  it  with  flour,  and  make  a  porridge  of  it. 
Sometimes  they  mix  it  up  with  warm  water,  and  make  pancakes  of  it. 

It  is  said  to  be%very  nutritious.  I  asked  about 
it,  and  if  I  could  have  remained  until  the  next 
day,  and  stayed  in  one  of  their  gammers  >  they 
would  have  made  me  a  specimen.  But  I  was 
satisfied  that  if  I  tarried  with  them  I  should 
have  considerable  company  when  I  left. 

The  reindeer  is  the  physical  salvation  of  the 
Laplanders.  T^ey  eat  even  his  intestines, 
after  carefully  cleaning  them.  The  skin  is 
used  to  make  gloves  and  shoes.  The  sinews 
are  employed  for  threads.  The  bladders  make 
their  bags.  The  horns  and  hoofs  are  sold  for 
glue. 

Lap  dogs,  when  the  lap  is  spelled  with  one  /,  few  persons  except  their 
owners  have  any  respect  for,  most  people  agreeing  with  Julius  Caesar, 
of  whom  Plutarch,  in  his  opening  sentence  of  the  life  of  Pericles,  thus 
speaks  :  "  When  Caesar  happened  to  see  some  persons  in  Rome  carrying 
some  young  dogs  and  monkeys  in  their  arms,  he  asked  whether  the 
women  in  their  country  never  bore  any  children,  thus  reproving  with  a 
proper  severity  those  who  lavish  upon  brutes  that  natural  tenderness 
which  is  due  only  to  mankind."  Still,  I  have  not  forgotten  what  the  philo- 
sophical humorist  says  :  "  To  me  there  seems  to  be  but  little  in  a  poodle. 
Nevertheless,  I  am  glad  there  is  a  poodle ;  for  if  there  were  not  some  folks 
would  have  nothing  left  to  live  for  or  love  in  this  world."  But  whatever 
anyone  may  have  said  or  thought  or  felt  about  lap  dogs  with  one  p,  I  have 
a  profound  respect  for  these  Lapp  dogs.  So  fierce  are  the  wolves  and 
the  bears  in  the  mountains  that  the  Lapps  are  compelled  to  have  regular 
watches  in  the  winter,  and  relieve  them  with  as  much  regularity  as  sailors 


LAPP    WOMAN. 


AMONG   THE    LAPLANDERS. 


relieve  each  other.  And  every  "  man,  woman,  and  grown  child,  and  maid- 
servant has  his  or  her  own  dogs,  which  obey  and  listen  only  to  the  voice 
of  their  owners."  Every  one  of  these  Lapps  had  a  dog,  apparently,  and 
they  paid  little  or  no  attention  to  the  strangers.  Only  one  dog  out  of 
the  whole  number  reciprocated  any  attentions  paid  to  him.  They  look 
as  if  they  had  been  accustomed  to  hard  living.  Du  Chaillu  says  about 
them  :  "  In  order  to  keep  them  hardy,  strong  and  healthy,  they  are 
treated  roughly  and  never  overfed,  and  are  not  allowed  to  rest  until  their 
owner  does.  Indeed,  they  seem  to  get  only  the  food  they  can  steal. 
They  are  exceedingly  brave,  and  not  afraid  of  wolves  and  bears,  which 
they  attack  with  great  cunning,  taking  great  care  not  to  be  bitten  by 
them,  and  choosing  their  time  and  place  to  bite."  He  also  says  that 
some  of  them  look  very  much  like  small  bears.  He  records  that  he  saw 
some  without  tails,  said  to  belong  to  a  peculiar  variety,  and  to  have  come 
from  ancestors  whose  tails  at  first  were  always  cut  off.  I  saw  one  dog 
without  a  tail,  but  I  also  saw  that,  if  he  had 
not  been  abused,  he  could  have  said  with  the 
poet,  "  I  could  a  tale  unfold." 

It  was  amusing  to  see  the  dogs  keep  the 
reindeer  together.  It  is  said  that  panics  some- 
times seize  the  herds,  and  that  a  thousand  of 
them  will  scatter  in  every  direction.  The  Lapp 
dogs  are  equal  to  the  Scotch  shepherd  dogs  in 
this  particular.  I  was  told  by  a  Lapp  who 
spoke  a  little  English  that  they  rely  a  good 
deal  on  the  scent  of  the  deer  to  know  whether 
the  wolves  are  coming.  In  the  winter  time 
they  collect  a  force  and  pursue  the  wolves  on 
snow-shoes,  as  they  cannot  get  away  when  the  snow  is  deep.  These 
now-shoes  I  saw.  They  resemble  somewhat  those  used  in  this  country 
and  Canada.  In  the  vicinity  of  a  cottage  which  I  sometimes  occupy  in 
New  Hampshire  in  the  summer,  forty  deer  were  caught  in  one  winter  by 
men  upon  snow-shoes,  in  the  same  way  that  Lapps  pursue  wolves. 


A    TYPE    OF    LAPP. 


88 


AMONG   THE    LAPLANDERS. 


The  Lapps  are  great  drinkers  of  alcoholic  liquors.  They  are  very 
sharp  at  a  bargain,  and  know  precisely  what  they  want ;  but  after  they 
have  dealt  with  the  visitor  and  got  their  money  they  go  either  that  day 
or  the  next  day  to  Tromsoe  to  purchase  the  necessaries  of  life,  and,  like 

too  many  of  our  own  coun- 
trymen, spend  the  surplus 
for  rum.  A  few  days  after 
we  were  at  their  camp,  I  saw 
three  or  four  of  them  stag- 
gering about  the  streets  of 
Tromsoe  miserably  drunk. 

I  had  an  amusing  encoun- 
ter with  one  of  the  Lapps 
who  had  been  drinking  a  lit- 
tle. He  had  something  to 
sell  which  I  did  not  want. 
He  offered  it  to  me,  and 
made  signs  which  showed 
how  much  money  he  wanted. 
I  offered  him  only  two  thirds 
of  the  amount,  and  held  up 
the  money.  He  would  not 
take  it.  Then  I  increased 
the  amount  very  slightly. 
He  would  not  take  it.  A  Norwegian  woman,  who  spoke  the  Lapp 
language,  denounced  him  as  "  a  fool."  Then  he  came  down  a  little,'  but 
I  would  not  budge.  Then  I  raised  the  price  slightly,  but  he  went  up 
to  the  price  first  named,  refusing  anything  less.  The  Norwegian  woman 
again  denounced  him  as  "  a  fool,"  and  I  turned  to  walk  toward  the 
ship,  followed  by  him  and  a  large  crowd.  He  ran  in  front  of  me,  being 
about  five  feet  high,  and  stuck  the  article  in  my  face.  I  then  went  back 
to  my  original  offer,  shook  my  head,  and  started  for  the  vessel.  The 
Norwegian  woman  still  denounced  him  as  "a  fool ;  "  and  finally  he  took 
what  I  offered.  The  captain  said  that  he  would  have  taken  less. 


GROUP    OF    LAPPS. 


AMONG    THE    LAPLANDERS.  89 

Notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  said,  and  much  that  might  be  added 
in  the  same  vein,  the  Lapps  are,  after  their  manner,  a  very  religious 
people,  professedly  Christian. 

All  are  taught  the  catechism,  to  pray,  and  do  many  things  which  show 
that  their  faith  is  sincere.  Drunkenness  is  their  weakness,  and  I  am 
afraid  that  if  I  were  suddenly  transformed  into  a  Lapp,  and  had  to  live 
as  they  live,  freezing  two  thirds  of  the  year,  that  the  temptation  would 
be  strong  to  indulge  in  artificial  warmth,  and  to  take  something  that 
would  set  the  imagination  free  from  the  fetters  of  ice  and  snow  in  which 
their  minds  and  their  bodies  are  bound. 

Drunkenness,  however,  among  the  Lapps,  as  everywhere  else,  gives 
oblivion  and  excitement  for  only  a  little  while,  to  be  followed  by  deeper 
poverty  and  depression. 


CHAPTER    IX. 

EN    ROUTE    TO    THE    MOST    NORTHERLY    TOWN    IN    THE    WORLD. 

SOME  hours  aftar  our  return  from  the  Lapp  encampment,  the  whistles 
of  the  Harkon  Jarl  blew  short,  sharp  and  decisive  notes  which 
caused  every  laggard  traveller  to  start  from  the  store,  saloon,  museum, 
post-office,  or  the  circumjacent  hills,  in  which  he  was  loitering,  or  to 
which  he  had  wandered. 

I  had  ascended  one  of  the  hills  and  was  listlessly  surveying  the  scenery, 
when  I  became  aware  that  the  vessel  was  about  to  get  under  way,  and 
tore  wildly  through  the  streets,  reaching  the  deck  as  I  supposed  just  in 
time ;  but  some  of  the  heavy  weights  among  the  Germans  had  not 
arrived,  and  did  not  for  forty  minutes.  So  accommodating  is  the  man- 
agement, even  upon  the  express  boats,  that  we  waited  quietly  for  them. 

At  last  the  mountains  and  hills  in  the  vicinity  were  made  to  reverberate, 
with  the  roar  of  cannon  fired  from  the  deck  of  our  vessel,  and  at  about 
what  would  have  been  sundown  if  at  home,  the  steamer  headed  northward 
once  more. 

We  passed  out  through  the  Tromsoe-Sund.  It  was  now  daylight  or  twi- 
light constantly.  The  Midnight  Sun  had  been  seen  for  the  last  time  at 
Tromsoe  just  two  days  before  we  arrived.  There  it  appears  for  the  first 
time,  and  shows  the  upper  margin  on  May  18  ;  the  centre  is  seen  on  the 
nineteenth,  and  the  whole  disk  on  the  twentieth,  and  it  remains  above  the 
horizon  until  July  22.  The  centre  is  seen  for  the  last  time  on  July  24, 
and  might  have  been  seen  the  very  day  that  we  arrived,  but  the  midnight 
sky  was  beclouded.  Our  course  ran  through  certain  narrow  straits,  in 
which  the  current  is  very  strong,  and  navigation  for  sailing  vessels  a  very 
delicate  piece  of  work.  Soon  we  obtained  a  view  of  the  milk-white  mists 
which  lie  upon  the  surface  of  the  water.  They  are  said  to  be  a  greater 

90 


A    WATERFALL. 


THE   MOST   NORTHERLY   TOWN   IN   THE   WORLD.  93 

obstruction  to  safe  navigation  than  the  ordinary  fog.  The  Norwegian 
name  is  Skoddebuer ;  skodde  signifying  mist,  and  hue,  bow.  Here  and 
there  lonely  islands,  destitute  of  trees  or  vegetation,  began  to  appear. 
At  last  we  reached  the  Kaago,  which  lacks  only  thirteen  yards  of  being 
four  thousand  feet  high. 

From  this  point,  in  every  direction,  the  view,  if  nothing  else  could  be 
seen,  is  an  ample  reward  for  the  time  taken  to  make  the  journey.  Look- 
ing south  and  west  there  is  an  immense  chain  of  mountains,  most  of  them 
covered  far  up  their  sides  with  glaciers.  These  mountains  are  from  five 
thousand  to  six  thousand  five  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  so  nearly  per- 
pendicular as  they  rise  from  the  sea  that  they  appear  to  be  higher  than 
Pike's  Peak  or  Gray's  Peak  in  the  Rocky  Mountains.  I  have  stood  upon 
the  summit  of  Gray's  Peak,  and  seen  the  amazing  mountain  masses  that 
surround  it,  but  among  them  all  there  was  not  one  that  gave  such  an 
impression  of  perpendicular  height  as  is  to  be  obtained  here.  In  this 
part  of  the  world  the  snow-line — :that  is,  the  line  ab$ve  which  snow 
never  melts  entirely  away  —  is  only  about  three  thousand  eight  hundred 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  This  will  give,  in  some  cases,  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  feet  perpetual  snow  above  this  line,  from  which  descend 
glaciers  of  vast  size.  They  come  down  into  the  valleys,  and  form  at  the 
base  lakes  similar  to  that  at  the  foot  of  the  glacier  of  Svartisen.  From 
these  streams  run  out  into  the  sea. 

Another  feature  of  the  stupendous  scene  is  the  perpendicular  water- 
falls of  great  height  which  plunge  down  the  rocky  sides.  Only  the 
Yosemite  can  parallel  them.  Some  plunge  down  with  great  rapidity ; 
others  break  up  into  spray  like  the  famous  Staubbach  in  the  valley  of 
Lauterbrunnen  in  Switzerland,  which  has  often  been  compared  to  the 
folds  of  a  lace  veil,  but  was  by  Lord  Byron  compared  to  the  tail  of  the 
white  horse  in  the  Apocalyptic  Vision. 

A  strange  optical  .illusion  frequently  attracted  attention.  At  a  dis- 
tance of  a  few  miles  some  of  these  waterfalls  of  a  deep  green  color 
appear  to  descend  so  very  slowly,  estimated  in  connection  with  their 
apparent  perpendicularity,  as  to  overthrow  the  laws  of  perspective.  The 


94  THE   MOST   NORTHERLY   TOWN    IN   THE    WORLD. 

only  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  is  tnat  the  eye  is  deceived  with 
regard  to  the  perpendicularity.  It  was  maintained  by  one  of  the  pas- 
sengers that  the  apparent  rapidity  of  the  motion  of  any  moving  body 
diminished  according  to  the  distance.  But  that  this  has  any  effect 
upon  such  cases  I  doubt,  for  this  reason  :  that  upon  the  sides  of  the 
same  mountain,  at  no  great  distance  from  each  other,  some  waterfalls 
appeared  to  be  descending  with  great  rapidity,  while  others  crept  slug- 
gishly along. 

Loppen  is  an  island  which  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of  desolation.  It 
is  so  situated  that  it  has  no  protection  from  the  gales  of  the  Arctic 
Ocean.  We  did  not  stop  there,  but  saw  vessels  making  a  landing.  To 
the  traveller,  a  few  hundred  yards  from  the  shore,  nothing  appears  but  a 
little  church,  with  its  parsonage  ;  and  it  does  not  look  as  if  anything  grew 
upon  the  island.  Baedeker  declares  that  there  is  a  two-storied  house, 
occupied  by  a  merchant,  and  that  a  few  fishermen  live  upon  the  island, 
but  that  the  onty  vegetation  which  can  be  brought  to  perfection  "  con- 
sists of  a  few  meagre  patches  of  potatoes,  everything  else  being  unable 
to  defy  the  fury  of  the  storms  which  prevail  there  for  weeks  together." 
The  clouds  hung  low  as  we  saw  the  island  in  the  distance,  and  suddenly 
sank  so  very  low  that  it  and  the  mountain  ranges  upon  which  we  had 
been  gazing  disappeared  from  our  view. 

We  went  within  a  few  miles  of  Bossekop.  The  meaning  of  this  word 
is  "whale  bay."  Bosse  is  derived  from  the  Lapp  language,  and  means 
"whale,"  but  literally  "a  blower,"  while  kop  signifies  bay.  We  did  not 
visit  the  spot.  It  is  stated  that  important  fairs  are  held  there,  and  hun- 
dreds of  Lapps  attend  them  in  sledge-boats,  carrying  reindeer  flesh,  but- 
ter, and  game,  which  they  exchange  for  fish,  flour,  and  groceries.  The 
ptarmigan,  a  kind  of  grouse  of  the  smallest  species,  is  a  celebrated  bird 
of  this  region.  I  had  met  with  it  on  the  summit  of  the  Great  St.  Ber- 
nard many  years  before.  Salmon  are  very  plenty  in  the  rivers  that  run 
down  into  the  Bossekop.  All  through  that  region  whales  were  formerly 
very  numerous,  and  are  not  unknown  now. 

It  was  a  great  occasion  when  we  reached  Hammerfest.     I  am  very 


THE   MOST   NORTHERLY   TOWN   IN   THE   WORLD. 


95 


desirous  of  giving  a  definite  idea  of  this  place.  It  is  the  most  northerly 
town  in  the  whole  world,  being  situated  in  latitude  seventy  degrees  forty 
minutes.  It  is  quite  old,  and  has  been  recognized  as  a  town  since  1787, 
though  as  late  as  1801,  it  had  only  seventy-seven  inhabitants.  It  now 
has  a  little  less  than  two  thousand  three  hundred.  Certainly  one  felt 


that  he  was  far  North  when,  on  asking 
a  citizen  what  the  chief  business  of  the 
place  is,  he  was  told,  "  Trade  with  the 
Russians  through  the  White  Sea,  and  organizing  expeditions  to  Spitzber- 
gen."  Going  and  coming  I  spent  nearly  twelve  hours  in  this  place,  and 
amused  myself  by  sending  a  few  postal-cards  to  acquaintances  in  different 
parts  of  the  United  States.  There,  too,  is  the  telegraph,  and  I  might 
have  sent  a  message  to  New  York,  with  the  certainty  that  it  would  reach 
that  city  some  hours  before  it  was  sent.  Arctic  explorers  and  sportsmen 
charter  vessels  here.  They  make  a  regular  contract,  stating  whether  the 
explorer  goes  to  Spitzbergen  or  Nova  Zembla.  Wherever  one  walks  he 
smells  cod-liver  oil,  of  which  there  are  several  manufactories.  The 
streets  contain  many  Lapps,  and  I  must  bear  witness  to  the  truth  of 
Baedeker  when  he  says :  "  Lapps,  in  their  queer  and  picturesque  cos- 


96 


THE   MOST  NORTHERLY   TOWN    IN   THE   WORLD. 


tumes,  often  intoxicated,  are  seen."  All  about  the  town,  and  particu- 
larly on  the  east,  appeared  wooden  frames  on  which  fish  are  being  drieM 
Civilized  Lapps  live  in  the  outskirts.  Russian  sailors  and  vessels  can 
be  found  in  the  harbor. 

Very  important  experiments  have  been    made  in  Hammerfest.     In 
1823,  Sir  Edward  Sabine  made  noted  experiments  with  the  pendulum. 

Also,  there  is  a  granite  column  which 
commemorates  the  measurement  in 
1816  and  1852,  of  the  number  of  de- 
grees between  the  mouth  of  the  Dan- 
ube and  Hammerfest.  It  has  upon  it 
an  inscription  in  Latin  and  Norwegian, 
which  declares  that  the  investigations 
were  made  "  by  the  geometers  of  three 
nations  by  order  of  King  Oscar  I.  and 
the  Emperors  Alexander  I.  and  Nicho- 
las." 

The  sensation  of  being  in  the  most 
northerly  town  in  the  world  was  pecu- 
liar, and  increased  during  the  entire 
time  of  our  stay.  I  had  many  conver- 
sations with  shipmen,  telegraph  opera- 
tors, and  others  who  could  speak 
English.  I  asked  them  if  they  did  not  grow  weary  of  the  long  day 
that  lasted  so  many  months.  They  acknowledged  that  they  became 
very  nervous  on  account  of  the  influence  of  the  light  and  its  effect  upon 
sleep  and  upon  the  regular  hours.  I  then  inquired  how  the  long  night 
in  which  the  sun  never  appears  affects  them.  To  this  they  replied  that 
there  is  frequently  a  strong  twilight  visible  toward  the  south,  and  that 
the  Aurora  Borealis  shows  with  such  splendor  that  it  is  possible  to  trans- 
act many  kinds  of  business. 

They  informed  me  that  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  the  splendor  of 
the  Aurora  Borealis  in  those  regions.     Nevertheless  they  confess  that, 


THE    MERIDIAN     PILLAR. 


THE   MOST   NORTHERLY   TOWN   IN   THE   WORLD.  97 

long  before  the  three  months'  night  ends,  a  dull  stupor  comes  over 
them,  broken  only  by  an  intense  longing  for  the  first  appearance  of  the 
sun.  At  Hammerfest  the  margin  of  the  Midnight  Sun  appears  on  the 
thirteenth  of  May,  the  centre  on  the  fourteenth,  and  the  whole  disk  on 
the  sixteenth  ;  for  the  last  time  the  Midnight  Sun  can  be  seen,  the  whole 
disk,  on  the  twenty-seventh,  and  the  upper  margin  disappears  on  the 
twenty-ninth,  of  July.  The  day  we  reached  Hammerfest  the  Midnight 
Sun  could  have  been  seen  had  the  weather  permitted. 


CHAPTER  X. 

FAREWELL    TO    CIVILIZATION. 

UP  to  the  time  we  took  leave  of  Hammerfest,  the  land  had  sur- 
passed the  sea  in  interest,  but  now  we  left  behind  the  magnifi- 
cent Alpine  scenery,  which,  by  the  light  of  the  morning,  afternoon  and 
evening  sun,  had  never  failed  to  delight  our  eyes. 

I  must  at  this  point  reveal  to  the  reader  the  fact  that  the  weather, 
though  there  had  been  some  hours  of  clear  sunshine  every  day,  had  been 
very  discouraging.  Heavy  clouds  hung  about  the  mountains,  and  there 
had  been  hardly  three  consecutive  hours  without  some  rain,  and  during 
two  of  the  nights  it  had-rained  the  greater  part  of  the  time.  We  had 
prepared  ourselves  for  disappointment.  Very  little  encouragement  as  to 
the  weather  was  offered  by  the  captain  or  officers.  Treacherous  at  all 
times  in  mountain  regions,  it  is  doubly  so  along  the  seashore  in  such  a 
climate  as  that  in  which  we  then  were.  To  have  travelled  so  far  and 
fast,  and  at  such  an  expense,  to  see  the  Midnight  Sun,  and  to  fail,  would, 
indeed,  be  a  great  disappointment.  I  tried  to  make  myself  believe  that 
the  view  must  be  precisely  the  same  at  midnight  that  it  would  be  at  any 
other  time  of  the  day  when  the  sun  is  exactly  the  same  distance  above 
the  horizon,  and  determined  to  maintain  that  fact  against  all  opponents 
to  the  end  of  time. 

But  the  wind  changed,  and  for  thirty-six  hours  the  sky  was  absolutely 
clear,  without  the  first  vestige  of  mist  —  as  clear  as  on  a  starlight  winter 
night.  But  no  stars  were  to  be  seen,  for  the  sun  still  shone  on. 

The  view  of  the  land,  whether  upon  the  continent  or  upon  the  islands, 
was  desolate  and  monotonous  in  the  extreme  ;  consisting  of  elevated 
plateaus,  perhaps  two  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  with  no 
visible  valleys.  The  steamer  traversed  hour  after  hour,  long  gulfs  and 

98 


FAREWELL  TO   CIVILIZATION.  101 

bays  without  one  vestige  of  vegetation,  nor  a  sign  of  a  human  dwelling. 
At  the  head  of  these  bays,  however,  could  be  found  "  smiling  little  colo- 
nies, surrounded  with  bushes  and  trees,  and  houses  boasting  of  the 
amenities  of  pianos,  newspapers  and  engravings.  In  some  places  a 
patch  of  grass,  which  might  be  covered  with  a  copy  of  the  London 
Times,  is  hailed  as  a  meadow,  and  attracts  a  colony  of  several  families." 

No  one  can  imagine  the  effect  of  such  a  scene  —  silent,  solemn,  severe, 
every  rock  a  sphinx,  and  all  things  apparently  covered  with  a  pall 
of  death.  Now  and  then  vast  flocks  of  sea-gulls,  auks,  and  other  birds, 
swept  over  the  sea,  darting  down  upon  a  shoal  of  fish,  and  frequently 
whales  appeared. 

After  a  while  we  caught  a  glimpse  of  Fruholm,  upon  which  stands  the 
northernmost  lighthouse  in  Norway.  It  is  in  latitude  seventy-one  degrees 
sixty-one  minutes.  Upon  this  island  a  noble  Danish  lady  was  once  com- 
pelled to  live  for  several  years,  "  having  been  banished  there  for  certain 
misdeeds."  Tradition  says  that  she  perished  crossing  in  a  small  boat 
to  another  island  where  there  is  a  church.  At  last  an  island  came  in 
view  very-  close  to  the  North  Cape,  one  thousand  six'  hundred  miles 
northeast  of  London,  and  nearly  five  thousand  miles  from  New  York. 
Yet  it  ha^  both  mails  and  telegraph  stations,  and  one  can  telegraph  from 
there  to  America  at  the  rate  of  about  one  dollar  a  word. 

As  the  probability  of  fair  weather  increased  to  certainty,  the  greatest 
delight  was  manifest  among  the  passengers. 

The  captain  of  the  Harkon  Jarl  had  taken  on  board  at  Hammerfest  a 
brass  band  consisting  of  six  or  eight  pieces  —  about  as  poor  a  band  as  I 
ever  had  the  misfortune  to  hear.  It  was  indeed  "  sounding  brass  " 
unrelieved  by  "tinkling  cymbal."  The  performers  meant  well  and  felt 
well.  They  had  their  passage  free  for  their  music,  and  brought  their 
wives  along ;  but  their  blowing,  when  it  was  not  discordant,  was  dole- 
ful. They  alternate  between  vociferous  waltz  music,  making  a  fierce 
clangor,  and  solemn  church  tunes.  Long  before  we  got  to  the  Cape 
we  would  have  been  willing  to  reward  them  handsomely  if  they  would 
disembark. 


102  FAREWELL   TO   CIVILIZATION. 

A  good  hand-organ  would  have  been  preferable,  for  we  could  have 
broken  the  crank.  But  in  this  case  we  were  helpless. 

In  this  part  of  the  world  sailors  ascertain  the  proximity  of  the  shore 
by  the  black  look  of  the  water  and  the  vast  flocks  of  sea-gulls  wheeling 
above  it. 

Here  we  saw  a  promontory  of  slate,  the  name  of  which  is  Svaerholtk- 
lubben,  rising  a  thousand  feet,  almost  perpendicularly,  and  covered  with 
sea-gulls  and  other  birds.  It  is  a  common  practice  for  the  steamers  as 
they  pass  this  island  to  fire  several  shots  from  cannon.  This  has  a  most 
peculiar  effect.  Two  thirds  of  the  gulls  remain  sitting  on  the  ledges  of 
the  black  rock,  "  contrasting  picturesquely  with  it,  and  looking  not  unlike 
long  rows  of  pearls."  The  other  third  rise  up  and  fly  in  sufficient  num- 
bers to  almost  shut  out  the  sun.  For  a  few  seconds  after  the  cannon- 
shot  is  fired  there  is  a  perfect  silence ;  then  all  the  gulls  that  are  flying 
utter  with  great  force  their  well-known  cry.  All  agreed  that  it  sounded 
exactly  like  the  escape  of  steam  from  several  boilers  at  the  same  time. 
Why  the  two  thirds  remain  sitting  while  the  other  third  fly,  I  was  not 
able  to  ascertain. 

It  was  determined  to  tarry  long  enough  to  allow  two  or  three  Germans> 
who  had  brought  their  guns  with  them,  to  go  ashore  and  shoot  a  few 
gulls  which  they  desired  to  take  home  with  them  from  that  remote  point. 
One  of  the  passengers  bitterly  opposed  it,  declaring  that  it  was  cruelty, 
and  that  to  detain  the  steamer  and  all  the  passengers  for  such  a  thing 
was  an  outrage.  Finally,  after  having  exposed  himself  to  animadversion 
for  the  violence  of  his  threats  to  attack  the  Management  in  the  press  for 
allowing  such  a  thing,  he  appealed  to  me  for  some  support.  I  fear  he 
was  quite  dissatisfied  with  the  result.  The  sea-gulls  are  among  the  most 
rapacious  of  birds,  living  almost  entirely  upon  fish,  which  they  destroy 
remorselessly,  and  I  could  see  no  harm  in  these  men  killing  a  few  to  take 
home  to  have  them  stuffed  and  preserved. 

A  few  days  later,  when  a  shoal  of  cod  and  other  fish  passed  by  as  the 
steamboat  lay  at  anchor,  many  of  the  passengers  indulged  in  fishing,  and 
in  a  short  time  caught  an  amount  of  fish  that  would  have  filled  several 


FAREWELL  TO   CIVILIZATION.  103 

barrels.  Among  the  most  enthusiastic  fishermen,  was  the  passenger 
who  had  been  so  incensed  at  the  Germans  for  wishing  to  shoot  the  gulls. 
As  I  watched  him  hauling  in  the  fish  with  the  greatest  delight,  I  sug- 
gested that  catching  fish  for  a  pastime  was  of  precisely  the  same  nature 
as  shooting  sea-gulls,  as  the  fish  in  this  case  were  not  necessary  for  his 
subsistence ;  a  great  many  more  having  been  caught  than  could  possibly 
be  eaten.  To  which  he  replied  that  he  considered  the  point  to  be  entirely 
beneath  his  notice. 

In  point  of  fact,  the  nearest  human  inhabitant  makes  a  large  part  of 
his  living  by  collecting  and  selling  eggs,  and  by  shooting  the  gulls  and 
using  them  as  fodder  for  cattle.  The  general  impression  is  that  cattle 
are  obstinate  vegetarians  ;  but  I  found  that  in  some  places  from  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  to  two  hundred  and  fifty  large  casks  of  gulls  are  used  for 
fodder,  which  are  prepared  for  the  purpose  by  burying  them  in  the 
earth  for  a  while. 

The  Land-handler,  near  the  above  island,  must  be  a  very  interesting 
person.  He  is  very  hospitable,  and  informs  visitors  of  his  way  of  living. 
One  important  item  in  his  means  of  support,  that  reflects  much  light 
upon  ocean  currents,  is  drift-wood,  and  he  showed  to  a  visitor  two  enor- 
mous trunks  of  mahogany  which  he  afterward  sold  to  a  merchant. 

In  that  region  it  is  easy  to  catch  five  hundred  cod  in  a  single  day. 
Sometimes  they  are  so  dense  that  it  is  impossible  to  sink  a  hand-line 
with  a  lead  of  a  pound  in  weight  through  them.  Whales  are  about  there 
in  large  numbers.  This  Land-handler,  awakened  in  the  midst  of  the 
night  by  a  great  noise  in  the  sea,  in  the  front  of  his  house,  went  down  to 
the  shore  and  found  thirty  large  whales  playing  about  and  spouting 
water. 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE  NORTH  CAPE. 

The  huge  and  haggard  shape 
Of  that  unknown  North  Cape. 

AT  last  the  North  Cape,  the  goal  of  our  journey  from  the  time  we 
sailed  from  New  York,  appeared  in  sight.  The  passengers,  except 
one  or  two  who  were  intoxicated,  stood  as  quiet  as  if  in  a  cathedral  during 
worship,  and  very  little  conversation  was  carried  on  until  we  made  prep- 
arations to  go  on  shore.  The  brass  band  ventured  to  play,  but  a 
deprecatory  "  Sh !  sh !  sh ! "  taught  it  that  though  its  speech  was 
brazen,  silence  would  certainly  be  golden. 

Anchoring  at  the  base,  we  began  a  long  journey  up  the  mountain 
side.  The  summit  of  the  Cape  is  nearly  a  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea.  The  ascent  is  very  precipitous,  the  path  not  wisely  chosen, 
but  made  tolerably  passable  even  for  persons  of  ordinary  strength,  by  a 
line  of  rope  fastened  to  iron  rods.  At  certain  points  it  is  so  steep  as  to 
be  somewhat  dangerous  because  of  the  loose  stones  dislodged  by  those 
highest  up,  which  fall  with  very  great  force  and  increasing  velocity,  and 
bound  across  the  track.  In  one  case  a  young  lady  was  quite  seriously 
injured  by  a  blow  upon  the  back. 

The  sky  being  perfectly  clear,  we  ascended  the  summit  of  the  Cape. 
When  I  reached  the  end,  and  stood  upon  the  extreme  summit,  beneath 
me  rolled  the  Arctic  Ocean  ;  on  the  west  were  gloomy  heights  ;  on  the 
northwest  the  Nordkyn,  the  highest  point  of  the  mainland  of  Europe, 
the  North  Cape  being  upon  an  island  named  Magero.  Due  north  from 
the  Cape  rolled  the  boundless  Arctic  Ocean.  "  With  the  North  Cape 
terminates  the  Skjaergaard,  or  island-belt,  of  Western  Norway,  and  the 
coast  is  here  washed  by  the  long,  sweeping  waves  of  the  Arctic  Ocean." 

The  great  object,  which  surpassed  all  others,  which  dwarfed  the 

104 


VIEW    FROM    SUMMIT   OF   NORTH    CAPE. 


THE    NORTH   CAPE. 


107 


ocean,  reduced  the  mountains  and  rocks  to  dust  in  comparison,  was 
"  the  triumphant  King  of  Day,"  at  that  time  —  10:15  p-  M-  — far  UP  in  the 
*  heavens.  There  was  not  a  cloud,  and  only  a  scarcely  perceptible  mist 
upon  the  water's  edge.  The  scene  was  brilliant  :  three  old  travellers 
declared  it  equal  to  the  vision  upon  the  Bay  of  Naples.  The  motion  of 
the  sun  was  similar  to  its  movement  as  it  approaches  its  setting  in  the 
west,  but  while  it^  direction  was  obviously  toward  the  horizon,  it  was 


THE    NORTH    CAPE. 


slightly  toward  the  east.  At  the  very  summit  stands  a  granite  column 
erected  by  Oscar  II.  on  the  occasion  of  his  visit,  July  21,  1872.  It  is 
about  twenty  feet  above  the  pedestal  —  it  may  be  a  little  less.  This  col- 
unm  stands  facing  due  north  and  south. 

•  I  shall  now  describe  with  literal  exactness,  the  sublime  phenomenon 
as  I  saw  it. 

It  is  first  necessary  to  understand  precisely  the  relation  of  the  sun  to 


io8 


THE   NORTH   CAPE. 


its  final  setting.  It  appears  for  the  first  time,  showing  the  upper  margin, 
on  the  eleventh  of  May ;  that  is  to  say,  the  sun  at  midnight  on  the 
eleventh  of  May,  does  go  down,  but  shows  its  upper  margin.  On  the 
twelfth  it  shows  its  centre.  On  the  thirteenth  its  whole  disk.  From 
that  time  it  never  sets  ;  but  on  the  thirty-first  of  July  its  lower  disk  dis- 
appears, and  only  the  centre  remains  above  the  horizon.  On  the  first  of 
August  the  upper  margin  is  seen  for  the  last  time,  aid  on  the  second  it 
dips  out  of  sight,  but  only  one  half  of  its  own  diameter,  and  so  continues 
until  the  night  increases  in  length  and  the  day  grows  shorter  and  shorter. 

We  were  on  the  summit  on  the 
twenty-fifth.  Hence,  when  the 
sun  sank  to  its  lowest  point,  it 
was  about  three  times  its  own 
diameter  above  the  horizon. 
For  a  little  time  the  sun  ap- 
peared to  be  travelling  parallel 
with  the  horizon  eastward. 

At  half-past  eleven  I  sta- 
tioned myself  immediately  be- 
hind the  pillar  of  King  Oscar. 
While  I  stood  close  against 
the  column  I  could  see  the  sun 
on  my  left.  It  still  appeared 
to  be  travelling  parallel  with 
the  horizon,  but  in  an  easterly 
direction.  Soon  it  disappeared  behind  the  pillar.  At  twelve  o'clock 
I  was  looking  due  north  :  the  pillar  stood  between  me  and  the  sun.  I 
remained  there  twenty-five  minutes,  when  I  saw  the  sun  on  the  right 
hand  of  the  pillar,  moving  rapidly  eastward,  and  gradually  rising  above 
the  horizon. 

This  circumstance  will  enable  the  reader  to  understand  precisely  what 
occurs.  The  sun,  instead  of  apparently  travelling  from  the  east  to  the 
west,  disappearing  in  the  west,  and  reappearing  the  next  morning  in  the 


COLUMN    OF   OSCAR   II.  —  GROUP  TAKEN  AT   MIDNIGHT. 


THE   NORTH   CAPE.  109 

east,  travels  from  its  westernmost  point  toward  the  horizon  as  if  it  were 
about  to  set,  but  with  an  easterly  tendency.  Instead  of  going  out  of 
sight,  its  eastward  tour  is  performed  above  the  horizon. 

Two  or  three  days  before,  we  had  seen  it  set  at  eleven  o'clock  and  rise 
at  one.  If  we  could  at  that  point  have  ascended  a  mile  or  so  up  a  moun- 
tain, or  in  a  balloon,  it  would  not  then  have  set  to  us,  but  we  should  have 
seen  just  what  we  saw  from  the  North  Cape. 

In  like  manner,  if  one  week  sooner  we  had  been  at  Bodo,  the  first 
point  at  which  we  stopped  after  crossing  the  Arctic  Circle,  we  might 
have  seen  what  we  now  saw  from  the  Cape,  and  if  we  had  remained  upon 
the  Cape  one  week  we  should  have  seen  the  sun  set  there  as  we  had  at 
Bodo,  though  it  would  have  risen,  the  first  time  after  it  had  set,  in  a  very 
few  minutes. 

The  twenty-first  of  June  is  our  longest  day.  Before  that,  for  some 
time,  the  sun  has  been  rising  earlier  and  setting  later.  Suppose  that  at 
the  same  rate  it  should  keep  on  rising  earlier  and  setting  later,  it  would 
produce  in  a  few  months  the  phenomenon  of  the  Midnight  Sun.  On 
the  other  hand,  December  twenty-one  is  our  shortest  day.  For  some 
time  before  the  sun  has  been  rising  later  and  setting  earlier.  Suppose 
it  were  to  continue  so  doing,  in  a  very  few  months  it  would  entirely  dis- 
appear from  our  gaze,  and  we  should  have  the  midnight  winter  darkness 
of  the  North  Cape. 

The  one  impressive  fact  was  that  the  orb  whose  rising  and  setting  had 
marked  our  day  and  night,  and  enabled  us  to  say,  "  the  evening  and  the 
morning  were  the  first,  or  the  second  day,"  no  longer  rose  and  set,  and 
the  metaphor  of  the  hymn, 

Blest  be  that  name,  supremely  blest, 
From  the  sun's  rising  to  its  rest, 

had  lost  its  pertinency.  Yet  Nature  appeared  in  still  grander  form. 
For  law  governs  all  these  mysteries,  and  I  might  have  set  my  watch  to  the 
second  by  the  phenomena  there  observed.  True,  "  the  undevout  astron- 
omer is  mad."  These  are,  indeed,  "  Jehovah's  wonders  in  the  heavens." 


IIO  THE   NORTH   CAPE. 

The  North  Pole  in  miles  very  near !  North  Cape  is  in  north  latitude 
seventy-one  degrees  ten  minutes.  Our  steamer  went  nearly  five  miles 
due  north  of  that,  so  that  we  were  within  about  one  thousand  three 
hundred  and  ten  statute  miles  of  the  Pole  —  a  little  more  than  the  dis- 
tance from  New  York  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.  The  highest  point  that  has 
ever  been  reached  is  that  attained  by  Lieutenant  Lockwood,  eighty-three 
degrees  twenty-four  minutes  north  latitude,  which  is  about  four  hundred 
and  fifty-six  miles  from  the  Pole.  Hence,  with  all  the  hardships,  cost  of 
time  and  money,  and  destruction  of  human  life,  navigators  have  gone 
only  eight  hundred  and  fifty-four  miles  nearer  to  the  North  Pole  than 
we  were  on  that  never-to-be-forgotten  night !  Eight  hundred  and  fifty- 
four  miles  —  the  Oregon  can  make  more  than  that  in  two  days  !  Still,  I 
was  content  to  say  of  the  Pole  what  the  poet  says  of  the  star :  "  Thou 
art  so  near  and  yet  so  far."  To  travel  the  last  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  of  the  eight  hundred  and  fifty-four  took  ages. 

Many  of  the  passengers,  though  they  had  come  so  far,  seemed  to  have 
little  perception  of  the  grandeur  of  the  scene.  They  had  ordered  large 
quantities  of  wine  and  of  some  stronger  liquors  to  be  taken  to  the  summit 
of  the  Cape,  and  spent  much  of  their  time  in  drinking,  some  of  them  con- 
tinuing until  the  journey  down  became  quite  dangerous  for  them.  Most 
of  the  Germans,  however  much  wine  they  appeared  to  drink,  kept  com- 
paratively sober,  delivered  speeches  to  each  other,  drank  toasts,  and 
finally  invoked  God's  blessing  upon  one  another  in  that  truly  affectionate 
manner  that  marks  either  the  highest  degree  of  piety  or  of  vinous  stimu- 
lation. Several  of  them  were  very  able  men,  and  some  of  the  addresses 
made  on  the  occasion  were  worthy  of  the  place  and  of  the  scene. 

The  deck-hands  and  others  who  had  carried  up  the  liquors  were,  of 
course,  allowed  plenty  to  drink.  To  them  it  was  "business,"  and  the 
Midnight  Sun  seemed  to  have  no  more  effect  than  anything  else.  There 
was  music,  but  it  was  not  that  of  the  spheres. 

About  the  time  the  scene  had  reached  the  culmination  of  the  sublime 
that  vile  band  began  to  play.  It  is  the  only  time  in  my  life  that  I  have 
hated  music.  The  fall  of  an  avalanche,  the  explosion  of  artillery,  or  the 


THE   NORTH   CAPE.  113 

deep  tones  of  a  great  bell  might  not  have  diminished  the  impressiveness 
of  the  occasion.  But  that  band  drove  me  from  the  spot.  I  determined 
to  go  so  far  that  none  of  its  sounds  could  be  heard.  I  travelled  along 
the  rock-bound  summits  for  the  space  of  a  mile  before  it  was  entirely  un- 
heard. Then,  alone,  I  entered  a  ravine  which  led  to  the  summit  of  a 
precipice.  Below  it  was  the  ocean,  and  as  I  lay  down  upon  the  rock 
and  stretched  my  head  over  the  side,  I  was  appalled.  The  sea  was  quiet 
and  smooth  as  glass;  the  shore  a -mass,  apparently,  "in  stony  fetters 
fixed  and  motionless."  I  thought  for  a  few  moments  of  my  past  life  — 
of  various  troubles  and  sorrows  ;  of  the  unknown  future  —  and  it  seemed 
so  easy  to  glide  down  the  rock  into  the  quiet  sea,  and  disappear  beneath 
the  green  waves  of  the  Arctic  Ocean,  that  I  fancied  that  it  would  be 
dangerous  for  some  temperaments  to  be  there.  Nor  did  I  care  to  tarry 
long,  for  I  knew  the  true  language  of  the  human  soul  is  : 

O,  where  shall  rest  be  found, 

Rest  for  the  weary  soul  ? 
'Twere  vain  the  ocean's  depths  to  sound 

Or  pierce  to  either  pole. 

I  rose,  and  far  off  on  the  summit  of  a  rock,  along  the  edge  of  another 
precipice,  I  saw  a  human  figure.  After,  perhaps,  fifteen  minutes  of 
climbing  over  the  rocks,  I  approached  near  enough  to  see  that  it  was  the 
Unitarian  minister.  I  said  to  him  :  "  What  brought  you  so  far  away  ?  " 
"  O,"  said  he,  "  I  wished  to  get  away  from  the  revelers,  and  from  the 
noise  of  that  band." 

We  were  kindred  spirits,  differing  in  creed,  but  uniting  in  the  belief 
that  the  voice  of  Nature  needed  no  human  interpreter  on  that  occasion. 

About  two  A.  M.  we  began  the  descent.  I  was  among  the  last  to  reach 
the  Harkon  Jarl,  which  was  at  two-thirty.  The  sun  was  then  as  high  in 
the  heavens  as  it  is  at  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  on  an  ordinary  day  in  spring. 

For  the  convenience  of  those  who  had  not  been  able  to  make  the 
ascent,  the  steamer  had  sailed  out  into  the  open  Polar  Sea,  and  with  the 
mountains  and  solid  land  behind,  had  given  the  passengers  an  hour  and 


U4  THE   NORTH    CAPE. 

a  half  of  uninterrupted  view  of  the  sun's  triumph  over  its  ancient  enemy 
—  night. 

The  weather  soon  became  stormy.  The  only  day  during  the  entire 
voyage  which  would  have  admitted  of  seeing  the  Midnight  Sun  was  that 
on  which  we  reached  the  North  Cape.  Though  not  supposing  that  the 
weather  on  the  day  of  our  arrival  was  arranged  for  our  benefit,  but 
believing  that  it  is  safe  to  thank  God  for  everything,  I  find  it  much  easier 
to  do  so  for  fair  weather  on  that  occasion  than  jt  would  have  been  for 
storms  and  clouds. 


CHAPTER    XII. 

FROM    TRONDHJEM    TO    UPSALA. 

NOTHING  occurred  on  the  return  voyage  which  has  not  already 
been  described.     After  resting  a  day  at  Trondhjem,  we  started 
out  for  Stockholm. 

From  the  ancient  capital  of  Norway  to  the  modern  capital  of  Sweden, 
is  five  hundred  and  thirty  English  miles.  We  began  that  journey  by 
taking  the  train  for  Storlein,  sixty-six  miles  distant,  through  scenery  sim- 
ilar to  the  finer  and  more  gentle  parts  of  that  between  Christiania  and 
Trondhjem,  yet  so  rugged  and  diversified  as  to  be  described  as  wild. 

The  Norwegian  language  has  many  words  which,  as  spelled,  are  very 
different  in  meaning  in  Norwegian  from  the  sense  to  which  we  are 
accustomed.  Thus,  in  one  of  the  railway  stations,  we  were  told,  by  a 
large  sign,  to  leave  our  "gods  "  there,  a  direction  that  might  have  been 
useful  in  the  old  pagan  times  of  Norway.  "Pen"  means  "pretty"; 
"fodder"  "on  foot."  We  had  noticed  these  upon  signs  and  elsewhere, 
but  were  hardly  prepared  for  the  following  statement  in  Baedeker.  After 
passing  the  twentieth  mile  we  read  the  announcement,  "  The  train  now 
passes  through  a  short  tunnel  and  reaches  HELL."  This  was  indeed  the 
name  of  the  place,  which  is  at  the  mouth  of  a  river.  In  the  English 
sense  of  the  word,  this  description  would  fit  the  cases  of  many  gamblers, 
reckless  speculators  and  dishonest  politicians. 

Soon  we  came  to  the  last  station  in  Norway.  The  line  climbed  the 
hills  ;  population  became  less  numerous,  there  being  nothing  to  support 
it ;  snow-clad  mountains  appeared  on  the  distant  horizon  in  Sweden, 
and  at  last,  nearly  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea-level,  the  guard 
pointed  out  the  line  that  separates  Sweden  and  Norway,  which  is  indi- 
cated by  a  kind  of  avenue  about  eight  feet  wide,  cut  through  the  forest 
on  each  side  of  the  track. 

»5 


u6  FROM   TRONDHJEM   TO   UPSALA. 

We  passed  some  high  mountains,  and  saw  several  copper-mines,  but  by 
the  time  the  train  reached  Ostersund  it  was  obvious  that  if  the  grandeur 
of  Norway  is  its  mountains,  the  beauty  of  Sweden  is  its  lakes.  At  this 
place  a  beautiful  lake  is  seen,  one  thousand  feet  above  the  sea-level, 
surrounded  by  cornfields  on  the  one  side  and  pine  forests  on  the  other, 
having  in  its  centre  an  elevated  island.  The  bridge  from  the  town  to  the 
island  is  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long.  It  forms  a 
striking  object  in  the  landscape.  On  this  island,  the  name  of  which  is 
Friso,  near  the  end  of  the  bridge,  is  a  Runic  stone,  which  commemorates 
"  Ostmadur,  the  son  of  Gudfast,  the  first  Christian  missionary  to  that 
district." 

After  riding  all  day,  all  night,  and  all  the  next  day  till  three  p.  M.,  we 
reached  Upsala. 

It  is  impossible  thoroughly  to  understand  institutions  without  knowing 
something  of  those  whence  they  sprung.  "  Like  Trondhjem  in  Norway, 
Upsala  may  be  regarded  as  the  historical  and  intellectual  centre  of  the 
empire  to  which  it  belongs."  In  former  times  it  was  the  citadel  of  heath- 
enism. Here  Christianity  was  most  stubbornly  opposed.  The  word 
means  "those  lofty  halls."  Old  Upsala  is  three  miles  from  Upsala. 
There  the  kings  of  Sweden  lived,  and  then  this  was  their  harbor  and 
business  centre.  In  1176,  the  country  having  been  Christianized,  an 
archbishopric  was  established,  with  its  seat  at  old  Upsala.  In  1276  the 
archbishop  came  to  Upsala,  and  the  kings  made  Stockholm  their  capital. 

So  soon  as  the  baggage  was  taken  to  the  hotel,  and  rooms  were  secured, 
procuring  a  carriage,  we  went  three  miles  to  old  or  Gamla  Upsala. 
Once  the  ancient  pagan  temple  stood  here,  lined  with  slabs  of  polished 
brass,  but  every  vestige  of  it  has  disappeared.  The  chief  interest  of  the 
place  now  is  in  the  three  Tumuli  of  the  Kings.  These  are  mounds  fifty- 
eight  feet  high,  and  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  in  diameter.  The 
traveller,  ignorant  of  their  origin,  would  be  struck  with  their  roundness 
and  similarity,  and  would  tax  his  brain  to  imagine  what  natural  force  had 
so  fashioned  them. 

They  are  named  after  the  three  Scandinavian  gods  :  Thor,  Odin,  and 


FROM   TRONDHJEM   TO   UPSALA. 


Freyr.  Excavations  have  been  made  twice  within  the  last  thirty  years, 
and  ample  evidence  found  of  their  origin  and  object.  These  ancient 
mounds  had  a  purpose  similar  to  that  of  the  pyramids,  built  by  a  very 
different  people,  with  a  very  different  mythology.  Near  them  is  the  hill 
called  the  Tingshog,  or  Assize  Hill,  about  forty  feet  high,  from  which 


all  the  kings,  down  to  Gustavus 
Vasa,  spoke  to  their  subjects. 
Ascending  the  Tumuli,  and  stand- 
ing on  the  Assize  Hill,  I  felt  the 
presence  of  that  "  Spirit  of  the  Past  "  which  Ossian  says  still  hovers 
among  the  ruins  of  its  achievements. 

Returning,  the  remainder  of  that  day  and  the  next  were  spent  in  visit- 
ing the  Cathedral,  the  Cemetery,  and  the  University. 

The  Cathedral  is  six  hundred  years  old,  and  within  is  very  imposing. 
Its  chief  interest  to  me  consisted  in  the  tombs  and  monuments  it  con- 
tains. Here  is  buried  Eric  IX.,  "the  patron  saint  of  Sweden."  He 
sleeps  in  a  sarcophagus  of  gilded  silver.  Here  lies  Gustavus  Vasa,  to 


Ii8  FROM   TRONDHJEM   TO    UPSALA. 

> 

whom  a  chapel  is  devoted.  It  is  frescoed  with  incidents  from  his  life, 
and  with  the  words  of  the  last  Address  to  the  Estates  in  1 560.  His 
figure,  lying  between  "  those  of  his  first  two  wives,  is  in  the  centre  of  the 
chapel,"  and  his  third  wife,  who  survived  him  sixty  years,  is  buried  in  an- 
other part  of  the  chapel. 

Linnaeus,  the  great  naturalist,  is  buried  here.  There  is  a  monument 
to  his  memory,  consisting  of  a  pyramid  of  porphyry  surmounted  with  a 
bronze  medallion  of  himself. 

As  the  Norwegians  claim  that  a  spring  burst  forth  where  St.  Olaf  was 
buried,  so  the  Swedes  have  a  tradition  that  a  spring  burst  forth  at  the 
spot  where  St.  Eric  was  executed.  A  hydropathic  establishment  has 
the  water  now.  This  should  be  a  great  success,  for  it  has  all  the 
undoubted  benefits  of  water,  and  can  utilize  the  influence  of  St.  Eric  for 
faith-cure  purposes  also. 

The  university  was  founded  fifteen  years  before  Columbus  saw  Amer- 
ica. It  has  fifty  professors,  and  fifteen  hundred  students.  The  Swedes 
are  a  race  of  giants.  It  is  strange  that  the  Norwegians  should  be  a  little 
under  stature,  and  the  Swedes  much  above  it.  Among  the  students  was 
a  greater  proportion  of  large  men  than  I  had  ever  seen  in  a  college  town. 

The  arrangement  of  the  university  is  singular.  Each  student  when  he 
enters  must  join  a  "  nation,"  of  which  there  are  thirteen.  They  have 
their  "  own  buildings,  presided  over  by  curators,  inspectors,  and  a  com- 
mittee of  management.  The  members  of  each  nation  are  divided  into 
seniores,  juniores,  and  recentiores'"  It  is  said  that  on  the  "nation  "  a 
student  joins,  his  future,  socially  and  intellectually,  depends.  They  re- 
main members  for  life. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  gave  large  sums  to  this  university.  He  was  stren- 
uously opposed  to  duelling,  and  in  1682  heavy  punishments  were  decreed 
against  it.  Hence  the  practice  which  remains  as  a  relic  of  barbarism  in 
the  German  universities  does  not  exist  in  Sweden. 

I  obtained  access  to  the  library,  and  though  applying  at  the  wrong 
time,  through  the  courtesy  of  Prof.  Dr.  Anderson,  had  the  privilege 
of  inspecting  the  "famous  Codex  Argenteus"  a  translation  of  the  four  Gos- 


FROM    TRONDHJEM   TO    UPSALA.  119 

pels  into  Maeso-Gothic,  by  Bishop  Ulphilas,  dating  from  about  the  second 
half  of  the  fourth  century,  written  on  one  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
leaves  of  parchment  in  gold  and  silver  letters  on  a  reddish  ground. 
This,  Dr.  Anderson  informed  me,  is  the  principal  source  of  the  knowledge 
of  the  Gothic  language,  which  is  to  the  Germanic  languages  what  San- 
scrit is  to  the  entire  Aryan  race. 

Among  the  seven  thousand  manuscripts  which  the  library  contains  are 
some  originals  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg.  I  had  considerable  curiosity  to 
see  them.  Swedenborg  has  something  of  a  following  in  the  United 
States,  and  at  a  recent  celebration  in  London,  one  of  his  admirers  and 
votaries  put  forth  the  statement  that  the  "  Church  "  is  growing  faster 
than  any  body  in  this  country,  and  that  when  it  never  yet  has  had,  and 
does  not  now  possess,  as  many  adherents  as  any  of  the  chief  sects  have  in 
a  single  city. 

The  singular  fact  in  Swedenborg's  case  is  that,  while  he  was  insane, 
there  was  a  method  in  his  madness,  and  some  of  his  peculiar  ideas  were 
rational,  and  some  very  plausible.  Many  have  heard  of  these,  and 
never  read  the  conclusive  evidence  of  his  mental  derangement.  In 
fact,  that  assumption  is  the  most  charitable  mode  of  accounting  both 
for  some  of  his  moral  teachings  and  actions,  and  for  his  intellectual 
vagaries. 

In  Sweden  he  has  no  theological  following,  though  his  memory  is 
respected  for  his  undoubted  scientific  attainments,  and  his  achievements 
before  his  mind  became  deranged.  He  is,  I  am  assured,  universally  be- 
lieved to  have  been  mentally  unsound,  and  to  have  lived  and  written 
under  the  influence  of  hallucinations  during  the  latter  part  of  his  life. 
The  manuscript  which  I  saw  and  read  in  the  library  at  Upsala  contains 
an  attempt  to  show  that  all  the  sects  have  missed  their  way  in  funda- 
mentals, but  that  God  had  given  him,  by  special  revelation,  the  key  of 
truth. 

The  cemetery  is  a  city  of  learned  men.  Almost  every  other  monument 
is  that  of  a  professor,  judge,  doctor,  or  student.  Among  them  is  the 
monument  of  Geijer,  the  most  distinguished  Swedish  poet.  After  a 


120 


FROM    TRONDHJEM    TO    UPSALA. 


search  of  more  than  an  hour  in  a  drizzling  rain,  I  found  it,  and  copied  the 
following  inscription  : 

ERICO  GUSTAVO 
GEIJER. 

NATO   MDCCLXXXIII. 
DENATO    MDCCCXLII. 

Amicorum  et  Disciptilorum  Pietas. 

One  of  his  poems  of  particularly  high  repute,  is  entitled  "  The  Last  of 
the  Bards,"  in  which  the  ancient  seer  extols  the  grandeur  of  the  temple 
at  Upsala,  and  then  describes  the  destruction  of  the  sanctuary  by  fire 
enkindled  by  Christian  warriors,  and  the  baptism  of  the  people,  who,  per- 
ceiving that  their  gods  could  not  save  themselves  or  the  temple,  rushed 
panic-stricken  to  the  minister  of  Christianity  for  refuse. 


THE    CASTLE    AT     U  PSA  LA. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 

"THE   VENICE   OF   THE   NORTH." 

UPSALA  is  the  ecclesiastical,  and  Stockholm  the  political,  capital 
of  Sweden.  The  journey  from  the  former  to  the  latter  re- 
quired but  two  or  three  hours,  and  was  barren  of  incident,  except  that 
we  met  an  Oxford  undergraduate,  who  asked  us  two  questions.  These 
were  :  "  What  is  the  size  of  an  American  forest,  where  they  hunt,  you 
know  ? "  and,  "  Are  there  any  towns  in  New  Jersey  ? "  He  was  the  son 
of  a  member  of  Parliament,  and  had  with  him  a  Fellow  of  the  Univer- 
sity who  was  "  coaching  him  "  for  the  next  examination.  Certainly  the 
tutor  planted  in  virgin  soil. 

We  arrived  in  Stockholm  in  a  drizzling  rain,  and  drove  directly  to  the 
Grand  Hotel,  worthy  its  name  in  location,  edifice,  and  general  manage- 
ment. Our  travelling  companion  here  took  final  leave.  He  had  not 
visited  Upsala,  for,  being  pressed  for  time,  he  had  hastened  on  to  Stock- 
holm. 

We  were  soon  absorbed  in  the  very  remarkable  attractions  of  the  far 
Northern  capital.  It  is  worthy  to  be  styled,  as  it  often  is,  "  The  Venice 
of  the  North."  The  visitor  to  Venice  only,  however,  can  form  no 
proper  conception  of  the  peculiar  situation  of  Stockholm,  which  I  must 
try  to  describe.  Some  of  the  cities  of  Europe  are  situated,  like  Berlin, 
on  a  plain ;  others,  like  Edinburgh,  among  hills ;  others,  like  Copenha- 
gen, upon  islands.  But  Stockholm  in  its  site  unites  all  these :  parts  of 
the  city  lie  upon  islands,  other  parts  upon  rocky  hills  several  hundred 
feet  in  height,  while  a  considerable  portion  is  as  level  as  a  prairie.  In 
almost  every  direction  water  interspersed  with  islands  surrounds  it. 

As  we  approach  other  cities,  cultivated  fields  and  villas  attract  atten- 
tion, but  Stockholm  "  lies  in  immediate  proximity  with  primeval  forests 

121 


122  "THE  VENICE   OF   THE   NORTH." 

and  rocky  islands,  where  to  this  day  there  is  hardly  a  trace  of  cultiva- 
tion." All  published  accounts  of  travellers,  and  all  with  whom  I  have 
conversed,  agree  that  Stockholm  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  capitals 
in  Europe;  to  which  good  report,  after  spending  considerable  time 
there,  I  add  my  testimony. 

It  has  its  gloomy  aspects,  which  I  will  despatch  at  once,  lest  the  pall 
should  cover  the  whole  chapter.  The  gloom  is  historical,  not  contempo- 
rary. While  I  stood  in  the  Riddarhus-  Torg,  contemplating  the  statue  of 
Gustavus  Vasa,  erected  by  the  nobles  of  Sweden,  on  the  two  hundred 
and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  entry  of  the  king  into  Stockholm  in 
triumph  over  the  Danes,  I  was  reminded  that  here,  only  so  recently  as 
June  10,  1810,  Marshal  Axel  V.  Fersen  was  murdered  by  the  people,  who 
were  terrified  by  the  death  of  the  Crown-Prince,  and  falsely  imagined 
that  .the  Marshal  had  poisoned  him.  Looking  across  the  street,  from  a 
point  near  the  hotel,  at  a  large  building,  I  asked  what  it  was,  and  learned 
that  it  was  an  edifice  built  by  Gustavus  III.,  and  completed  in  1782, 
dedicated  by  the  king,  to  the  "National  Poetry."  But  there,  only  ten 
years  later,  at  a  masked  ball,  the  same  Gustavus  III.  was  assassinated 
by  Captain  Ankarstrom. 

The  first  time  I  was  in  Europe,  when  I  saw  the  scene  of  the  assas- 
sination of  one  of  its  kings,  I  turned  to  a  foreigner  and  proudly  said, 
"  Thank  God !  nothing  of  that  kind  ever  happened  in  the  United 
States  !  "  Now,  as  the  forms  of  Lincoln  and  Garfield  passed  before  my 
eyes,  I  thought  much,  but  said  nothing. 

In  1818  the  people  erected  a  magnificent  monument  to  the  murdered 
monarch.  The  statue  leans  on  a  rudder,  which  is  a  reference  to  the 
great  victory  of  the  Royal  Navy  in  his  reign. 

The  highest  point  in  ancient  Stockholm  almost  rivals  the  Tower  of 
London  in  sanguinary  history.  Here,  in  1280,  Magnus  Ladulos  caused 
the  beheading  of  several  of  his  own  family.  Other  royal  personages  and 
nobles  were  executed  there,  and  there  also,  on  the  tenth  and  eleventh  of 
November,  1520,  the  "Stockholm  Blood  Bath"  occurred.  Christian  II. 
of  Denmark  caused  so  many  of  his  opponents  to  be  executed  that  it  took 


"THE  VENICE   OF   THE   NORTH/  125 

two  days  to  do  the  bloody  work.     This  reconciled  me  to  the  fact  that  he 
was  subsequently  imprisoned  for  twenty-seven  years. 

In  front  of  the  National  Museum  is  the  Baltespanare,  the  masterpiece 
of  Molin,  a  Swedish  sculptor  of  the  highest  renown.  "  Baltespanare  " 
means  "Girdle  Duelists."  In  ancient  times  the  Scandinavian  duels  were 
fought  on  this  wise  :  The  combatants  were  tied  together  with  their  own 
girdles,  and  fought  with  knives  till  one  or  both  were  dead.  How 
cheerful  their  banquets  must  have  been  !  As  they  drank  and  generally 
got  to  quarrelling,  the  women  used  to  carry  a  winding-sheet  for  their 
husbands,  when  they  went  to  feasts,  to  have  in  readiness ;  for,  when  duels 
occurred,  they  generally  ended  fatally  for  one  or  both.  The  four  reliefs 
on  the  pedestal  represent  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  combat.  They 
have  Runic  inscriptions  from  the  Edda  : 

1.  JEALOUSY.     Translation:  "  Mighty  love  makes  fools  of '-wise  sons  of 'men." 

2.  DRINKING.     Translation  :  "  Not  so  good  as  they  say  it  is,  is  ale  for  the  sons  of  men ;  for 
the  man  knows  in  his  mind  always  less  the  more  he  drinks." 

3.  BEGINNING  OF  THE  COMBAT.     Translation  :  "  They  draw  the  knife  out  of  the  sheath,  the 
edges  of  the  sword,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  evil  spirit" 

4.  THE  WIDOW'S  LAMENT.    Translation  :  "  Solitary  am  I  become  like  the  aspen  in  the  grave, 
poor  in  relations  as  the  fir  in  branches." 

There  are  those  who  say  that  "  there  is  no  harm  in  malt  liquors,  in  ale 
and  beer :  they  rarely  intoxicate,  and  when  they  do,  the  tippler  is  in 
a  good  humor."  The  quotation  about  ale  and  its  effects  in  stirring  up 
murderous  quarrels  is  many  centuries  old,  and  goes  back  to  a  time  long 
before  the  art  of  distilling  alcohol  was  invented. 

From  the  lofty  Stromparterre  there  is  a  view  of  unsurpassed  loveli- 
ness. Of  it  the  poet  Tegner  says :  "  How  magnificently  do  the  tower, 
heroes'  statues,  palace,  and  temple  of  the  Muses,  reflect  themselves  in 
the  stream,  and  the  evening  red  over  the  Riddarholm,  where  Sweden's 
honor  sleeps  beneath  marble." 

The  Royal  Palace,  though  not  on  a  scale  so  grand  as  some  in  Europe, 
is  not  beneath  the  dignity  of  any  monarch.  Its  apartments,  halls, 
concert-room,  and  audience-chamber  are  all  of  large  proportions  and 
embellished  with  painting  and  tapestry,  and  made  interesting  by  frescoes 


126  "THE   VENICE   OF    THE   NORTH." 

and  carving.  The  Grand  Gallery,  one  hundred  and  fifty-six  feet  long 
and  twenty-three  feet  wide,  has  marble  statues  and  sculptures  made  by 
Sweden's  -most  celebrated  sculptors.  There  is  a  curious  banqueting- 
hall,  called  "The  White  Sea,"  its  walls  being  of  a  dazzling  white  stucco. 
Above  is  the  Seraphim  Saloon,  for  the  Knights  of  the  Seraphim  Order, 
the  highest  and  oldest  in  Sweden.  This  apartment  is  similar  in  purpose 
to  the  Knights'  House. 

Here,  we  saw  a  room  whose  walls  were  covered  with  the  armorial  bear- 
ings of  the  whole  Swedish  nobility,  and  another  containing  portraits  of 
all  the  Swedish  marshals  from  1627  to  1809,  with  the  exception  of  one 
who  lost  his  head  on  the  scaffold  for  not  losing  it  in  the  war  against 
Finland. 

The  tombs  of  the  kings  are  in  an  ancient  Gothic  church,  with  a  spire 
about  three  hundred  feet  high.  Religious  services  are  not  held  in  it, 
except  when  members  of  the  royal  family  are  buried.  It  is  a  weird 
place.  The  very  pavement  is  made  of  tombstones.  In  various  parts 
hang  Russian,  Danish,  Polish,  Austrian,  and  other  flags  captured  by  the 
kings  and  generals  near  whose  tombs  they  hang. 

That  which  most  interested  me,  however,  was  the  Burial  Chapel  of 
Gustavus  Adolphus.  It  was  built  after  his  death,  and  in  pursuance  of 
instructions  given  by  him  before  he  started  on  the  fatal  campaign  in 
Germany. 

Gustavus  Adolphus  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Liitzen,  November  6, 
1632,  and  since  the  two  hundredth  anniversary  of  his  death  his  body  has 
been  in  a  magnificent  green  marble  sarcophagus  made  in  Italy.  The 
finest  statue  in  Stockholm  is  the  equestrian  statue  of  the  same  great  king. 
The  statue,  in  bronze,  rests  upon  a  very  high  and  broad  base  of  Swedish 
marble  and  granite. 

On  the  anniversary  of  the  death  of  Gustavus  Adolphus,  the  citizens  of 
Stockholm,  and  other  Swedes  who  may  be  in  the  city,  assemble  in  large 
numbers  about  this  monument,  and  sing  hymns  and  national  songs. 
One  which  they  never  omit,  is  the  hymn  composed  by  the  king  himself, 
before  he  went  into  the  battle  in  which  he  lost  his  life. 


"THE  VENICE   OF   THE   NORTH."  127 

The  following  is  the  best  English  translation  of  this  famous  Battle- 
hymn  of  the  Reformation  : 

BATTLE-HYMN   OF   THE   REFORMATION. 

Fear  not,  O  little  flock  !  the  foe 
Who  madly  seeks  your  overthrow  ; 

Dread  not  his  rage  and  power; 
What  though  your  courage  sometimes  faints? 
This  seeming  triumph  o'er  God's  saints 

Lasts  but  a  little  hour. 

Fear  not,  be  strong !  your  cause  belongs 
To  Him  who  can  avenge  your  wrongs; 

Leave  all  to  Him,  your  Lord : 
Though  hidden  yet  from  mortal  eyes, 
Salvation  shall  for  you  arise; 

He  girdeth  on  his  sword. 

As  true  as  God's  own  promise  stands, 
Nor  earth  nor  hell,  with  all  their  bands, 

Against  us  shall  prevail ; 
The  Lord  shall  mock  them  from  his  throne ; 
God  is  with  us ;  we  are  his  own  ; 

Our  victory  cannot  fail. 

Amen,  Lord  Jesus,  grant  our  prayer ! 
Great  Captain,  now  thine  arm  make  bare, 

Thy  Church  with  strength  defend; 
So  shall  thy  saints  and  martyrs  raise 
A  joyful  chorus  to  thy  praise, 
Through  ages  without  end. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 
STOCKHOLM  (continued}. 

OF  the  scientific  collections  in  Sweden,  the  Scandinavian  curiosities 
were  a  source  of  unflagging  interest.  A  journey  from  New 
York  to  Sweden  would  not  be  too  large  a  price  for  me  to  pay  for  another 
week  among  them.  Houses  with  life-like  wax  figures  and  costumes  are 
reproduced.  In  one  you  see  a  kitchen  complete,  a  girl  receiving  pres- 
ents on  the  third  and  final  proclamation  of  her  bans  of  marriage ;  in 
another,  an  ancient,  white-bearded  Finnish  harper,  harp  in  hand ;  in  a 
third,  a  group  of  five  figures,  in  ancient  costumes. 

I  will  enumerate  a  few  of  the  quaint  relics  of  ancient  life  there  to  be 

seen.     Old  horse-collars,  charms  used  by  peasants,  wooden  mortars  for 

pounding  coffee,  queer  pocket-knives,  spoons,  pouches,  dolls  made  by 

Esquimau  women  in  Greenland,  sledges,  old  belts,  spears,  snuff-boxes, 

carved  spoons  and  butter-moulds,  goblets  in  the  shape  of  geese,  a  chair 

with  a  number  of  human  teeth  in  it — the  ancient  Swedes  thought  that 

they  could  ward  off  toothache  by  driving  teeth  in  a  tree.     There  were 

also  old  lanterns  from  men-of-war,  wooden  locks,  steelyards,  and,  finally, 

a  convict  in  irons,  wooden  stocks,  executioner's  axe,  etc.     The  rooms 

}     are  in  charge  of  Swedish  peasants  in  their  ordinary  costume.     The  girls, 

ft     who  are  very  intelligent,  are  not  allowed,  by  the  rules,  to  accept  gratu- 

•p    ities,  but  I  judge,  from  some  indications,  that  they  are  not  unwilling  to 

m.  do  so. 

<  The  National  Museum  is  also  an  honor  to  the  Empire.  Its  contents 
are  similar  to  those  described  in  Christiania  and  Copenhagen,  though 
more  extensive.  Many  of  the  paintings  are  very  fine,  and  have  the 
merit  of  being  true  to  nature. 

In  the  department  of  minerals,  an  incident  of  interest  occurred.     A 

128 


STOCKHOLM.  129 

student  had  left  his  specimens  and  book  there.  Inadvertently  taking 
up  the  book,  I  found  it  to  be  one  of  our  American  authority,  Professor 
Dana's.  This  would  have  been  pleasant,  but  the  book  was  open  at  New 
Hampshire,  the  State  in  which  I  resided  for  several  years,  and  all  of 
whose  mountains  of  any  importance  I  have  ascended  in  search  of  health 
or  fine  scenery.  Every  town  exhibiting  important  geological  strata  was 
named,  with  the  formations  found  there,  and  around  me  on  the 'table 
were  specimens  taken  from  the  vicinity  of  a  romantic  spot  where  I  have 
spent  some  time  for  every  one  of  the  past  eleven  summers.  One  often 
stumbles  on  similar  suggestive  coincidences,  and  they  are  always  among 
the  pleasantest  experiences  of  travel. 

Desiring  to  see  a  great  Lutheran  church,  and  attend  its  services,  on 
Sunday  morning  we  went  to  one  of  the  largest  in  Stockholm.  The 
congregation  was  immense.  The  church  was  built  up  by  an  energetic 
preacher,  rather  more  sacramentarian  and  High  Church  of  late  than 
formerly.  The  service  was  tedious,  and  the  singing  the  poorest,  the 
feeblest  and  most  uninspiring  that  I  have  heard  in  any  land,  in  any  lan- 
guage, or  under  any  religion.  The  people  were  very  devotional  in 
manner.  When  the  preacher  ascended  the  pulpit,  a  change  came  over 
the  scene.  His  manner  was  earnest,  affectionate,  most  reverential,  and 
apparently  he  reached  the  hearts  of  his  hearers.  Oratory,  like  music, 
has  a  language  of  its  own  independent  of  words,  and  it  is  possible  to 
understand  what  men  mean,  and  how  they  feel,  without  understanding 
what  they  say. 

The  leading  divine  of  Stockholm  is  a  young  man  named  Fahr,  who 
has  been  promoted  to  the  highest  position  in  the  clergy  of  the  city. 
His  scholarship,  especially  in  Hebrew,  is  in  advance  of  that  of  any  other 
Swede.  As  an  orator  he  is  said  to  be  very  impressive.  Since  his  eleva- 
tion he  preaches  but  seldom,  and  so,  though  I  endeavored  to  hear  him, 
it  was  impossible  to  do  so.  • 

Roman  Catholicism  has  scarcely  any  hold  in  Sweden.  In  no  part  of 
Europe  was  the  "  Reformation  "  so  sweeping  as  in  Norway  and  Sweden. 
The  State  Church  is  Lutheran.  In  the  chapter  upon  Gottenburg,  I 


1 30  STOCKHOLM. 

spoke  of  meeting  the  first  Baptist  in  Sweden ;  yet,  at  the  present  time, 
from  the  small  beginning  of  a  few  years  ago,  the  Baptists  have  twenty- 
eight  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-six  members  in  Sweden,  and 
twenty-seven  thousand  five  hundred  and  eighty-one  scholars  in  their 
Sunday-schools.  A  great  many  free  churches,  Congregational,  have 
been  organized  in  Sweden  within  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years. 

The  Baptists  have  not  withdrawn  from  the  State  Church,  but  their 
churches  are  composed  of  people  belonging  to  the  lower  walks  of  life. 
As  one  of  their  ministers  observes :  "This  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  In 
a  country  like  Sweden,  well-to-do  people  are  not  apt  to  affiliate  with  a 
despised  sect,  even  if  these  well-to-do  people,  some  of  them,  are  sealed 
with  the  Spirit  of  God.  A  reformation  that  strikes  at  the  root  of  things 
is  not  apt  to  reach  the  top  in  a  day,  nor  even  in  thirty  or  forty  years, 
especially  if  that  which  is  to  be  reformed  is  as  old  as  Christianity,  yes, 
as  creation,  and  borne  up  and  sustained  by  all  that  society  and  mankind 
look  up  to  as  venerable,  great  and  worthy."  This  movement,  however, 
is  certainly  spreading  very  rapidly.  I  saw,  in  different  parts  of  Sweden, 
elegant  churches,  belonging  to  the  Baptists,  in  course  of  construction. 

A  very  striking  illustration  of  the  influence  of  American  methods  is 
found  in  the  fact  that,  on  visiting  one  of  the  very  largest  of  the  State 
churches,  when  no  service  was  progressing,  and  ascending  the  pulpit,  I 
found  by  the  side  of  the  regular  hymnal  of  the  church,  a  Swedish  ver- 
sion of  Moody  and  Sankey's  Gospel  Hymns,  and  ascertained  that  at  the 
evening  service  these  were  exclusively  used. 

By  the  side  of  the  American  Baptists  are  the  American  Methodists, 
to  whom  reference  has  been  made.  The  English  Wesleyans,  many 
years  ago,  established  a  society  in  Sweden,  but  it  died  out.  About 
twenty  years  ago,  the  American  Methodists  established  a  society  that 
consisted  chiefly  of  Swedes  who  had  returned  from  this  country.  One 
Sabbath  evening  I  visited  their  church  which  was  crowded  with  hearers 
of  all  classes.  The  great  majority  were  of  the  humbler  walks  of  life,  but 
many  were  of  the  middle  class,  which,  in  every  land,  makes  an  excellent, 
not  to  say  a  necessary,  cohesive  element  in  every  social  organization. 


STOCKHOLM.  131 

In  the  congregation  I  perceived  a  man  of  distinguished  appearance. 
He  was,  apparently,  not  far  from  seventy  years  of  age,  more  than 
six  feet  in  height,  with  snowy  hair,  faultlessly  dressed  in  broadcloth, 
and  upon  his  person  were  various  rings  and  ornaments  of  gold.  There 
was  about  him  the  air  of  a  man  accustomed  to  public  life,  to  serious 
responsibilities,  and  to  receiving  great  respect.  He  sat  among  persons 
of  the  plainer  sort,  and  my  attention  was  first  attracted  to  him  by  the 
devout  manner  in  which  he  participated  in  the  services.  On  inquiry, 
I  learned  that  he  was  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Courts  of  Sweden,  a 
resident  of  another  city,  who  had  become  interested  in  Methodism 
on  account  of  its  zeal,  in  which  it  seemed  to  him  a  great  contrast  to  what 
he  had  seen  in  the  State  Church. 

The  Methodists  have  about  twelve  thousand  members  and  candidates 
for  membership  in  Sweden,  and  about  four  thousand  in  Norway. 

These  facts  illustrate  one  phase  of  the  peculiar  influence  which  the 
United  States  exerts  upon  all  the  nations  of  the  globe.  Scandinavia 
gets  its  locomotives,  some  of  its  forms  of  religion,  and  some  of  its 
democratic  principles  also,  which  'have  already  greatly  modified  its 
institutions,  from  the  new  nation  in  the  West. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


CHARACTERISTICS    OF     SWEDES    AND    NORWEGIANS. 

THE  Swedes  are 
among  the  most  polite 
people  in  the  world ; 
the  Norwegians  among 
the  most  blunt  and  cor- 
dial. The  guide-books 
say  that  though  the 
Swedes  are  very  hos- 
pitable and  obliging, 
by  the  ordinary  tourist 
who  traverses  the  coun- 
try by  railroad  and 
steamboat  they  are  sel- 
dom seen  to  advantage. 
We  had  no  personal 
experience  which 
would  justify  that  state- 
ment. It  is  true  that 
having  many  acquaint- 
ances, letters  of  intro- 
duction, and  business  relations  to  persons  occupying  respectable  posi- 
tions, gave  advantages  ^nd  enabled  us  to  obtain  access  to  the  home  life 
of  various  families.  Nevertheless,  we  narrowly  observed  the  conduct 
of  Swedes  generally,  and  being  compelled  to  apply  for  admission  to  the 
library  of  the  university  at  Upsala  at  an  unusual  time,  and  to  introduce 
ourselves  to  the  professors,  we  had  the  opportunity  of  ascertaining  how 
an  absolute  stranger  would  be  received. 

132 


A    NORWEGIAN    PEASANT'S    HOME. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   SWEDES   AND   NORWEGIANS.  133 

The  Swedes  have  courtly,  and  yet  affable  manners.  Their  politeness 
appears  to  be  natural  and  entirely  free  from  affectation.  It  does  not 
manifest  itself  with  quite  as  much  vivacity  as  the  French  exhibit,  but 
frequently  I  was  reminded,  by  Swedes  of  all  classes,  of  the  manners  of 
French  people  a  little  past  middle  life. 

The  Swedes  make  great  use  of  bows,  and  lift  their  hats  to  all  whom 
they  meet.  It  is  a  preliminary  to  addressing  any  person,  whether  of 
high  or  low  degree.  To  wear  a  hat  in  a  shop  or  a  bank  is  a  breech  of 
good  manners.  All  the  Swedes  appear  to  bow  on  entering  or  leaving  a 
cafe  to  all  in  the  room.  When  a  train  or  steamboat  starts,  those  stand- 
ing upon  the  deck  or  the  platform  lift  their  hats  to  the  travellers,  who 
reciprocate  the  courtesy.  So  when  steamers  pass  each  other,  and,  in 
many  instances  when  carriages  do  so,  salutations  of  a  similar  kind  are 
exchanged.  Pushing,  crowding,  and  roughness  of  all  kinds  are  compar- 
atively unknown  in  Sweden.  It  would  be  a  mistake,  however,  to 
suppose  them  a  taciturn  people  because  of  their  quietness.  They 
converse  almost  constantly  among  themselvs,  and  are  willing  to  con- 
verse with  strangers  after  a  certain  amount  of  ceremony  prepares  the 
way  for  familiar  intercourse. 

Norwegians  resemble,  to  some  extent,  the  residents  of  the  more  rural 
districts  of  New  England.  They  are  ready  to  serve  and  accommodate, 
but  they  have  comparatively  little  of  the  polish  of  hospitality.  They  like 
to  see  their  guests  eat,  but  do  not  facilitate  the  replenishing  of  their 
plates  unless  they  happen  to  notice  that  they  are  empty.  All  classes 
mingle  without  reserve :  peasants,  guides,  stage-drivers,  sit  at  the  same 
table.  They  have  one  custom  which  struck  us  peculiarly,  but  not 
unpleasantly  :  if  one  give  a  sum  of  money  to  a  boy,  or  a  fee  to  a  waiter, 
the- recipient  will  step  up  and  shake  hands  with  him.  The  young  chil- 
dren among  the  Norwegians  are  so  respectful  and  simple-hearted  that  it 
is  a  pleasure  to  see  them.  I  presented  three  children  with  some  money 
and  they  gravely  came  forward  without  a  smile  and  separately  shook 
hands  with  me. 

The  population  is  so  sparse  in  Norway  that  comparatively  little  social 


134  CHARACTERISTICS   OF   SWEDES   AND   NORWEGIANS. 

intercourse  occurs,  and  if  the  traveller  depart  from  the  public  roads  the 
Norwegian  peasants  will  look  at  him  with  that  peculiar  mixture  of 
curiosity  and  bashfulness  which  in  all  parts  of  the  world  marks  those 
who  seldom  see  persons  beyond  their  own  circle  of  acquaintances. 

The  Norwegian  women  are  for  the  most  part  very  wholesome-looking, 
if  not  handsome.  The  men  have  a  weather-beaten  look,  and  as  most  of 
them  are  fishermen  or  workers  in  the  open  air,  this  is  not  remarkable. 

Both  the  Swedes  and  Norwegians  are  very  susceptible  to  emotion  of 
all  kinds.  Whatever  they  do,  they  do  heartily  :  anger,  pity,  grief  or  joy, 
takes  full  possession  of  them  and  absorbs  them  while  the  paroxysm  lasts. 

They  yield  readily  to  the  influence  of  religious  oratory.  A  vein  of 
superstition  appears  to  run  through  the  common  people,  and  some  of 
the  strangest  sects  have  arisen,  and  some  of  the  most  peculiar  notions 
have  obtained  a  strong  foothold.  All  sorts  of  itinerant  preachers  are 
traversing  Norway  and  Sweden,  and  never  want  for  congregations. 
The  preachers  in  both  of  these  countries  appear  to  be  eloquent  men. 
More  animation  attends  their  public  speaking  than  is  generally  found, 
and  their  voices  are  usually  managed  with  extraordinary  facility,  which 
gives  variety  to  the  sounds.  Their  gesticulation  is  vehement,  midway 
between  the  angular  and  pointing  gesticulation  of  the  Scotchman,  mak- 
ing his  metaphysical  distinctions,  and  the  curving  gesticulation  of  the 
Frenchman  delivering  his  ornate  descriptive  passages. 

The  deportment  of  both  Swedes  and  Norwegians  in  religious  services 
is  reverential  in  the  extreme,  and  no  ordinary  disturbance  can  distract 
their  attention.  In  one  of  my  visits  to  the  churches  of  Stockholm,  on  a 
very  warm  day,  the  church  doors  being  open,  in  the  midst  of  the  service 
two  small  dogs  began  to  fight  in  the  chief  aisle,  near  the  altar.  A  large 
black  dog,  on  the  other  side,  rose  majestically  and  surveyed  the  conflict 
without  participating.  His  expression  had  more  of  sorrow  than  of 
anger.  A  woman,  probably  the  owner  of  one  of  the  dogs,  mingled  in 
the  fray,  and  chastised  one  of  the  combatants.  Men  removed  them 
yelping  —  that  is,  the  two  small  dogs  —  from  the  room.  In  the  United 
States,  the  scene  would  have  thrown  the  congregation  into  confusion, 


A   NORWEGIAN    CHURCH    PORCH. 


CHARACTERISTICS   OF   SWEDES   AND   NORWEGIANS.  137 

and  in  some  places  convulsed  it  with  laughter.  Here,  not  one  person 
showed  the  least  symptom  of  levity.  The  only  smile  was  the  incipient 
one  of  which  I  was  conscious. 

The  use  of  alcoholic  liquors,  in  both  Sweden  and  Norway,  is  marked, 
and  its  effect  deplorable.  The  people  are  not  content  with  light  wines 
or  beer,  but  drink  immense  quantities  of  the  strongest  distilled  liquors. 

The  Swedes  are  not  rich,  but  they  are,  on  the  whole,  better  off  than 
the  people  of  Norway.  For  some  years,  business  has  been  passing 
through  a  severe  crisis.  We  found  it  to  be  so  at  Stockholm  especially, 
and  it  has  continued  until  the  present  time. 

The  entire  population  of  Sweden  is  about  five  millions ;  of  these, 
about  one  million  pay  taxes  to  the  support  of  the  government ;  but 
the  official  statistics  authorize  the  statement  that  of  all  the  tax-payers, 
only  six  thousand  possess  what  one  might  call  any  degree  of  wealth. 
On  the  other  hand,  about  twenty-three  thousand  of  the  tax-payers, 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  are,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  recipients  of 
aid  as  paupers,  yet  without  being  officially  classed  among  the  pauper 
population  of  the  country. 

The  Swedes  and  Norwegians,  like  the  French  and  Germans,  have 
reduced  economy  to  a  science,  but  it  is  practised  in  these  far  Northern 
countries  under  conditions  of  far  greater  hardship  than  the  milder  cli- 
mate of  Germany,  and  especially  of  France,  requires. 

The  majority  of  the  people  of  Norway  have  less  to  live  on  than  the 
laboring  classes  in  the  United  States  waste  :  and  many  a  mechanic  in 
this  country  spends  more  in  tobacco  and  amusements,  to  say  nothing  of 
liquors,  than  the  corresponding  classes  in  Norway  and  Sweden  have  to 
spend  upon  all  the  necessities  of  life. 

To  perceive  their  cheerfulness,  and  how  much  happiness  they  extract 
from  their  situation,  and  consider  their  history,  are  sufficient  to  show 
that  they  have  enduring  elements.  I  took  leave  of  Scandinavia  with  the 
conviction  that  the  more  Scandinavian  emigrants  come  to  the  United 
States,  the  better  it  is  for  us ;  for  they  will  prove  a  reliable  and  homo- 
geneous element. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

FINLAND    AND    ITS    HISTORY. 

IT  was  on  a  pleasant  evening,  in  the  early  part  of  August,  that  we 
embarked  upon  the  steamer  Finland.  How  beautiful  the  Swedish 
capital  as  its  palaces,  churches,  streets,  canals,  were  bathed  in  the 
yellow  light  of  the  fast  declining  sun !  How  exquisite  the  shades  as  the 
rays  of  the  sun  fast  softened  into  the  silvery  twilight  of  that  long 
Northern  day ! 

My  plan  was  to  see  as  much  as  possible  of  Finland,  a  country  now  a 
part  of  the  Russian  Empire,  but  the  home  of  a  hardy  race,  between 
which  and  the  Russian  people  there  is  no  affinity,  and  little  sympathy. 

The  Finns  are  believed  to  have  migrated  originally  from  the  neigh- 
borhood of  the  Altai  Mountains.  They  passed  through  Russia,  leaving 
scattered  settlers  here  and  there.  The  Hungarians  and  Esthonians 
belong  to  this  race.  The  Laplanders  came  first,  and  were  driven  North 
by  others,  until  now  they  are  on  the  outer  edge  of  the  nations  ;  so  with 
the  Samoyeds  on  the  White  Sea.  The  Finns  were  heathen  till  St. 
Henry,  an  Englishman,  but  Bishop  of  Upsala,  about  1157,  introduced 
Romanism.  In  1528  the  Reformation  extended  to  Finland,  and  all  the 
treasures  and  lands  of  the  Catholic  clergy  were  seized  by  Gustavus  I. 
and  his  bishop.  For  more  than  five  hundred  years  Finland  was  incor- 
porated with  Sweden.  Since  1809  it  has  been  a  part  of  Russia,  the 
treaty  guaranteeing  the  Finns  their  constitution,  and  the  free  exercise 
of  their  religion  and  other  rights  and  institutions. 

The  population  is  something  more  than  two  millions,  distributed  over 
the  six  thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy-three  square  miles  of  its  terri- 
tory. Almost  all  the  people  can  read  and  write,  as  the  Lutheran  minis- 
try will  not  admit  any  person  to  the  sacrament  who  cannot  read  and 

138 


FINLAND   AND*  ITS   HISTORY.  141 

write.  The  language  sounded  to  my  ears  wholly  unlike  any  that  I  had 
ever  heard.  On  consulting  a  grammar,  and  conversing  with  those  who 
speak  both  English  and  Finnish,  I  found  that,  unlike  most  European 
languages,  it  uses  no  prefixes,  but  makes  its  conjugations,  declinations, 
and  all  changes  in  the  form  of  words,  by  means  of  suffixes.  The  root 
always  begins  the  word.  It  has  fifteen  case  endings,  but  has  no  gram- 
matical distinction  of  genders,  and  no  articles.  Every  syllable  is  pro- 
nounced as  spelled,  and  the  accent  is  always  on  the  first  syllable.  It  has 
rather  a  musical  sound.  Along  the  coast,  however,  Swedish  is  generally 
spoken. 

The  natural  scenery  of  Finland  is  very  remarkable ;  "  its  granite  floor, 
elevated  above  the  sea  level,  probably  in  a  recent  geological  period,  is 
worn  into  thousands  of  angular  lake-basins,  which  form  a  perfect  net- 
work over  its  surface.  To  the  sailor  on  the  Baltic,  its  margin  presents 
a  girdle  of  steep  cliffs  guarded  by  a  fringe  of  rocky  islets  or  skerries." 
This  quotation,  from  Keith  Johnson,  the  geographer,  is  seen  by  the 
traveller  to  be  a  perfect  description. 

After  a  voyage  of  seventeen  hours  we  landed  at  Abo,  where  the  ship 
remained  at  anchor  about  ten  hours,  the  whole  of  which,  except  an  hour 
for  luncheon,  I  devoted  to  a  view  of  the  natural  scenery  and  a  study  of 
the  historical  remains  and  the  aspect  of  the  people. 

It  is  the  oldest  city  in  Finland,  and  its  history  is  that  of  the  country 
and  of  Christianity  therein.  The  two  great  monuments  of  those  early 
times  are  the  Castle  and  the  Cathedral.  The  Castle  was  built  in  1157, 
the  year  from  which  Christianity  dates.  It  was  long  a  royal  residence, 
and  for  many  years  a  part  of  it  was  used  as  a  prison  for  political  offenders. 
Its  site  is  commanding,  but  the  Castle  is  now  in  ruins. 

The  Cathedral  is  a  place  of  great  importance.  It  is  nearly  six  hun- 
dred years  old,  and  in  it  the  first  Episcopal  chair  was  established.  It 
contains  many  illustrious  tombs  and  monuments.  Here  is  the  tomb 
and  monument  of  a  woman  who  had  a  most  romantic  career.  Her 
name  was  Catharina  Mansdotter,  and  she  was  taken  from  the  peasantry, 
by  Eric  XIV.,  who  made  her  his  queen.  After  having  worn  the  diadem 


142  FINLAND   AND   ITS   HISTORY! 

of  Sweden  she  came  back  and  died  in  Finland,  while  her  husband,  the 
king,  died  in  confinement.  A  stained-glass  window  in  the  chapel  con- 
taining her  body  is  painted  to  represent  the  queen  descending  from  the 
throne,  her  hand  affectionately  placed  on  the  shoulder  of  a  page  who 
represents  Finland ;  at  the  same  time  she  is  taking  leave  of  another,  who 
typifies  Sweden.  Here  are  several  bishops,  and  many  noble  families. 

Beneath,  are  vaults  in  which  the  bodies  of  noble  ladies  who  have  been 
dead  two  hundred  years  are  exposed,  and  retain  their  weight  and  elas- 
ticity. A  process  of  embalming  and  a  peculiar  quality  of  the  atmos- 
phere have  combined  to  produce  a  most  remarkable,  unparalleled,  but  by 
no  means  pleasing,  effect. 

From  several  lofty  summits,  which  I  ascended,  magnificent  views  of 
the  harbor,  the  city,  the  surrounding  country  dotted  with  lakes,  and 
the  distant  hills  rising  upon  the  horizon  could  be  seen.  In  the  sunlight 
a  succession  of  little  lakes  surrounding  a  church  resembled  a  diamond 
necklace. 

Having  finished  my  exploration,  I  returned  to  the  ship,  and  was  in- 
formed that  we  should  remain  some  hours  longer  than  was  at  first 
expected.  As  I  was  conjecturing  how  best  to  use  the  time,  a  long 
funeral  procession  appeared,  slowly  ascending  a  neighboring  hill.  Sup- 
posing that  they  were  proceeding  to  the  Cathedral,  and  that  I  could  hear 
the  service,  I  went  ashore  and  followed.  Soon  the  Cathedral  was 
reached  and  passed,  and  the  cortege  began  to  move  so  swiftly  that  I 
could  not,  by  walking,  keep  pace  with  it.  Perceiving  that  the  services 
had  been  held,  and  that  the  people  were  on  the  way  to  the  place  of 
burial,  I  hailed  a  drosky  (the  queer  hackney  carriage  of  Finland),  and 
made  signs  to  the  driver  to  join  the  procession.  After  a  drive  of  two 
miles,  the  cemetery,  situated  on  a  rocky  plateau,  was  reached,  and  I 
walked  with  the  mourners  to  the  hill  where  the  open  grave  was  in  readi- 
ness. 

My  thoughts  on  the  occasion  were  sad  enough.  Here,  more  than  five 
thousand  miles  from  home,  on  this  wild,  rocky,  shore,  I  stood  among  a 
people,  not  one  of  whom  could  speak  a  word  of  my  native  tongue,  and 


FINLAND   AND   ITS  HISTORY.  145 

theirs  I  had  never  heard  till  this  day.  But  they  and  I  were  bound  by  a 
common  tie  of  sorrow  and  bereavement.  Their  tears  flowed  fast,  for  it 
was  a  wife  and  mother  that  was  to  be  laid  to  rest.  The  minister,  a 
grave  and  solemn,  yet  kindly,  man,  conducted  the  services  with  tender- 
ness. 

Some  strange  things  were  done.  The  coffin  was  placed  upon  the  bars 
across  the  grave,  and  a  liturgy  was  read.  At  a  certain  point  the 
minister  seemed  to  address  the  corpse  in  a  most  direct  and  positive 
manner,  throwing  a  handful  of  earth  upon  the  coffin  at  the  end  of  each 
sentence.  This  was  done  at  least  six  times.  On  the  edge  of  the  grave, 
at  right  angles  with  the  larger  coffin,  was  the  white  coffin  of  a  little 
child.  To  this  he  turned,  and  addressed  it  in  the  same  way,  casting 
earth  upon  it  as  before.  Then,  in  a  most  plaintive  and  truly  dirge-like 
tone,  he  chanted  for  five  minutes,  the  weeping  friends  joining  with  him. 
Last  of  all  was  a  moment  of  silent  prayer.  Then  the  body  was  lowered 
into  the  grave,  and  all  the  friends,  falling  oh  their  knees,  including  the 
little  children,  rapidly  threw  in  handfuls  of  earth  till  the  grave  was  nearly 
filled.  I  had  fancied  that  the  little  child's  coffin  would  be  lowered  also, 
and  supposed  that  mother  and  little  babe  had  died  at  the  same  time. 
To  my  surprise,  another  undertaker  and  four  persons  took  that  body  to 
a  remote  part  of  the  grounds,  and  buried  it  without  further  ceremony. 
Then  another  undertaker  conducted  the  minister  to  a  grave  two  thirds 
filled.  None  followed  but  myself.  Here  he  read  the  same  service  as 
before,  addressed  the  corpse,  and  threw  dust  at  the  end  of  each  sen- 
tence, omitting  only  the  chant.  So  it  appears  that  the  service  must  be 
read  before  the  burial  is  completed,  and  the  poor,  or  those  who  for  any 
reason  do  not  have  a  minister  at  the  time  of  interment,  wait  till  one 
visits  the  ground  before  the  grave  is  closed.  The  little  babe  was  brought 
to  the  grave  first  mentioned  for  the  same  reason. 

Then  followed  a  somewhat  unpleasant  transition.  The  mourners 
hastened  to  the  gate,  and,  once  in  their  carriages,  began  to  go  more 
rapidly  than  I  ever  saw  so  many  carriages  moving  in  the  same  direction. 
The  horses  drawing  the  hearse  were  much  of  the  time  on  a  gallop. 


146 


FINLAND    AND    ITS    HISTORY. 


Carriages  containing  the  mourners  were  three  or  four  abreast,  trying  to 
pass  each  other.  As  we  went  through  the  town  the  drivers  and  passen- 
gers exchanged  smiles  and  nods  with  people  on  the  streets.  Up  hill 
and  down,  over  the  stones  we  sped,  the  resounding  thwacks  of  the 
drivers  of  the  droskies  mingling  with  the  rattling  of  the  vehicles  over 
the  hard  roads.  On  the  deck  of  the  steamers  sat  the  passengers  filled 
with  hilarity  as  they  saw  the  cavalcade  that  had  gone  by  so  decorously, 
returning  at  such  terrific  speed  and  spread  all  over  the  road.  When  I 
appeared  among  them,  and  came  up  with  a  round  turn  on  the  pier,  the 
climax  was  reached. 

This  is  the  common  method  of  driving  in  Finland.     Twelve  and  even 
fourteen  English  miles  are  made  per  hour.     The  common  speed  of  post- 


MNNISH    UROSKY. 


ing  is  ten  miles  per  hour.  Speaking  on  this  subject,  the  British  Consul 
at  St.  Petersburg  wrote  some  years  ago  :  "  The  carrioles  and  droskies  of 
Finland  far  excel  vehicles  of  any  other  construction  for  whirling  down 
hill  at  a  full  gallop,  the  only  plan  of  descending  the  sharp  pitches  in  the 
road  with  which  the  Finnish  horses  appear  to  be  acquainted.  The  roads, 
however,  are  generally  excellent  throughout  Finland,  and  ten  miles  an 
hour  may  be  easily  accomplished." 

At  Hango  the  stay  was  short,  and  in  the  night,  so  I  did  not  land  ; 
but  at  Helsingfors  a  day  was  pleasantly  spent.  Since  1819  this  modern 
city  has  been  the  capital  of  the  Grand  Duchy,  and  here  the  Senate 


FINLAND    AND   ITS    HISTORY.  147 

assembles.  To  this  place,  also,  the  university  was  removed  from  Abo. 
It  is  the  oldest  university  in  the  Russian  Empire,  founded  in  1640,  one 
year  before  the  introduction  of  printing  into  Finland.  Two  years  after 
it  was  founded,  the  library  contained  twenty-one  volumes  and  a  globe. 
Now  it  has  all  the  apparatus  of  modern  times,  a  large  library,  nearly 
fifty  professors  and  one  thousand  students. 

The  great  church  here  is  most  magnificently  located,  and  of  vast  size, 
and  the  Russo-Greek  church,  upon  a  lofty  summit,  is  so  fine  as  to  make 
a  deep  impression  upon  the  memory.  Though  I  have  since  seen  some 
superior  to  it,  its  outline  and  beautiful  paintings  still  remain  a  vivid  and 
pleasing  recollection. 

On  arriving  or  departing  by  water,  the  traveller  is  struck  with  the 
entrance  to  the  harbor,  especially  by  the  fortress  and  outlying  works  of 
Sveaborg,  which  occupy  the  seven  islands  of  different  dimensions.  We 
made  an  excursion  to  them.  Here  Sweden  made  her  last  stand  against 
Russia,  and,  here,  in  May  3,  1808,  she  surrendered  the  fortress  and 
army,  and  with  it  Finland,  to  the  Tsar.  The  projector  and  builder  of 
this  fortress  was  Count  Ehrensward,  High  Admiral  of  Sweden.  His 
request  while  dying  was  that  he  might  be  buried  there ;  this  was  com- 
plied with.  On  his  monument  is  the  following  inscription,  almost 
equivalent  to  that  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren  in  St.  Paul's : 

On  this  spot,  and  surrounded  by  his  own  work,  repose  the  remains  of  the  Count  Auguste 
Ehrensward  II. 

The  last  port  in  Finland  which  we  visited  was  Wiborg.  Here,  apart 
from  the  beauty  of  the  harbor  and  some  ancient  ruins,  the  chief  interest 
attaches  to  the  Baron  Nicolai's  house  and  park  of  Mon  Refos,  three 
miles  inland.  They  are  constructed  upon  a  peculiar  plan — that  of 
representing  the  scenery  of  Finland  on  a  small  scale.  Here  are  rocks, 
hills,  deep  valleys,  precipices,  lakes,  fountains,  rivulets.  Our  drive  to 
and  through  the  grounds  was  charming. 

General  Grant  rode  on  this  very  steamer  on  his  visit  to  St.  Peters- 
burg some  years  ago.  When  the  vessel  reached  Helsingfors,  and  also 
at  Wiborg,  a  message  reached  him  from  the  Emperor  offering  him  a 


148  FINLAND   AND   ITS   HISTORY. 

special  train  to  St.  Petersburg.  The  General  pleased  with  the  vessel, 
declined  it.  We  had  no  such  attention,  but  so  grand  was  the  scenery 
on  shore  and  sea  that  if  we  had  received  it  we,  too,  should  have 
declined.  The  captain  still  boasts  of  the  General's  preferring  to  stay 
on  the  ship.  It  is  his  big  story. 

On  this  vessel  we  met  a  Swedish  iron  merchant,  who  said :  "  What 
travellers  you  Americans  are,  even  your  ladies  !  I  met,  the  last  time  I 
was  here,  two  old  ladies  from  America.  They  said  that  they  had  been  a 
year  in  Europe,  visiting  ancient  and  modern  capitals.  When  they  got 
home  they  remembered  they  had  forgotten  Moscow,  and  had  come  all 
the  way  back  to  see  it ! " 

Among  the  passengers  was  a  family  of  genuine  Russian 'nobles  of 
the  higher  grade,  with  their  English  and  French  governesses.  They 
had  with  them  the  Scotch  aunt  of  one  of  the  governesses,  a  lady  who 
had  lived  in  Russia  forty-two  years.  She  gave  me  much  valuable  infor- 
mation. The  young  princes  and  princesses,  besides  Russ,  could  speak 
English,  French,  and  German.  A  bright  boy  of  ten  was  quite  at  home 
in  all  these  languages. 

On  the  evening  of  the  fifth  day  we  cast  anchor  in  the  harbor  of 
Cronstadt,  with  its  famous  fortifications  on  the  right,  the  lights  of  the 
Emperor's  residence  and  grounds  at  Peterhof  visible  ten  miles  away,  the 
mingling  rays  of  the  setting  sun  and  the  full  moon  far  up  in  the 
heavens  covering  the  scene  with  splendor :  and  here  we  waited  for  the 
morning. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
RUSSIA'S  "WINDOW  INTO  EUROPE." 

I  ENTERED  Russia  proper  through  the  city  which  its  greatest  Tsar 
built  that  he  might  have  "a  window  looking  out  into  Europe." 

From  my  childhood  I  hoped  some  day  to  see  England,  Switzerland, 
and  Russia  :  England  because  it  was  the  native  land  of  my  father,  and 
the  mother  of  my  native  land ;  Switzerland  because  of  its  mountains 
and  lakes,  its  history  and  legends  of  heroes ;  Russia  because  it  was  so 
vast,  inaccessible,  and  peculiar — the  terror  and  mystery  of  mediaeval 
and  modern  Europe.  While  my  desires  had  long  since  been  gratified 
by  several  visits  to  England,  and  an  extended  tour  in  Switzerland,  two 
things  had  stood  in  the  way  of  a  journey  through  Russia :  the  want  of 
leisure  and  of  the  necessary  resolution. 

They  came  at  last.  Though  I  had  read  every  thing  attainable  on 
Russia,  I  found  on  reaching  the  country  that  much  which  I  thought 
true  was  false,  and  much  was  true  of  which  I  had  never  even  heard. 
How,  then,  can  I  hope  to  give  a  just  conception  of  this  wonderful 
country  and  peculiar  people  ?  Only  by  keeping  in  view  these  surprises 
of  my  own,  and  assuming  that  what  I  needed  to  learn  will  be  new  to 
most,  if  not  to  all,  who  have  never  been  in  Russia.  Fortunately  for 
myself,  I  had  acquaintances  who  had  been  living  in  Russia,  some  for 
more  than  twenty,  and  one  for  forty,  years.  These  acquaintances  put 
me  in  communication  with  the  best  sources  of  information.  Besides,  I 
had  letters  which  were  of  great  value.  Then,  armed  with  books,  and 
procuring  English  and  Russian  speaking  couriers,  I  gained  such  insight 
as  could  be  obtained  without  long  residence  in  the  country  and  mastery 
of  the  Russian  language. 

The  bay  of  Cronstadt  in  which  we  had  anchored,  communicates  with 

149 


ISO  RUSSIA'S   "WINDOW    INTO   EUROPE." 

the  gulf  of  Finland,  and  into  that  bay  flows  the  waters  of  the  Neva. 
This  great  river  rises  in  Lake  Ladoga,  and  as  it  flows  into  the  Bay  of 
Cronstadt,  separates  into  many  branches,  and  by  these  branches  various 
islands  are  formed.  Here,  upon  the  banks  of  the  river,  and  upon  the 
islands  thus  formed,  Peter  the  Great  determined  to  found  his  modern 
capital.  It  was  early  in  the  year  1703  that  he  began  it. 

Many  thousand  of  Russian  and  Finnish  peasants  were  sent  there  to  do 
the  work ;  the  Tsar  lived  on  the  site  in  a  little  cottage,  superintending  the 
works.  For  many  years  upward  of  forty  thousand  men  were  drafted  and 
employed  in  carrying  out  his  plans.  In  1704  private  houses  were  built, 
and  in  1705  more  elegant  establishments  were  erected  by  foreign  resi- 
dents. .  As  the  soil  was  marshy,  Peter  made  a  law  that  all  vessels  and 
carts  coming  into  the  city  should  bring  a  prescribed  number  of  stones 
for  paving  the  streets. 

The  mainland  is  connected  with  the  islands  by  the  great  Nicholas 
Bridge,  resting  on  the  most  magnificent  iron  arches  and  piers  of 
granite,  and  three  floating  bridges.  All  but  the  Nicholas  Bridge  are 
removed  when  the  Neva  is  frozen  over.  Michell,  formerly  British 
Consul  in  St.  Petersburg,  and  author  of  many  publications  on  Russia, 
Murray's  Hand-book  included,  speaks  of  the  city  as  floating  on  an 
immense  body  of  water :  "  like  a  bark  overladen  with  precious  goods, 
while  the  waves  seem  as  if,  deriding  the  false  foundations,  they  would 
overturn  in  a  few  hours  that  which  the  will  of  man  has  raised  with  such 
untiring  labor  and  energy.  When  a  gale  from  the  southwest  is  lifting 
the  gulf  furiously  towards  the  city,  and  the  Neva,  rejoicing  in  its 
strength,  is  dashing  along  the  quays  within  a  couple  of  feet  of  the  level 
of  the  street  (as  is  frequently  the  case  in  autumn),  the  danger  that 
would  result  from  the  continuance  of  such  a  wind  for  about  twelve  hours 
becomes  very  apparent.  Guns  are  fired  from  the  fortress  whenever  the 
river  begins  to  rise,  and  when  it  reaches  a  certain  point  a  very  frequent 
discharge  of  cannon  warns  the  occupants  of  cellars  to  seek  refuge 
upstairs,  the  police  and  naval  authorities  begin  to  prepare  boats,  and  the 
safety  of  sentries  is  looked  to." 


RUSSIA'S   "WINDOW   INTO   EUROPE."    «  153 

This  is  the  extraordinary  site  chosen  by  Peter  the  Great,  and  these 
the  conditions  under  which  the  city  exists. 

Floods  and  fires  are  the  constant  terror  of  the  inhabitants.  Fires  are 
much  more  dangerous  in  the  winter,  when  the  river  and  canals  are 
frozen  over.  Indeed,  it  is  demonstrable  that  the  city  will  be  destroyed 
when  three  things  unite  :  namely,  that  the  Neva  and  its  branches  shall 
be  frozen  over,  a  furious  gale  shall  blow  for  thirty-six  hours,  and  fires  get 
well  under  way  in  several  different  parts  of  the  city  at  the  same  time. 

To  prevent  a  fire  getting  started  without  its  being  generally  known  at 
once,  various  precautions  are  adopted.  In  all  parts  of  the  city,  and 
especially  upon  the  islands,  lofty  watch-towers  rise,  from  which  a  con- 
stant lookout  is  maintained  day  and  night.  These  are  of  circular 
shape,  and  iron  machinery  containing  a  system  of  signals  surmounts 
them.  By  day  balls  are  hung  out,  and  by  night  huge  lanterns.  The 
number  of  these  and  their  relations  to  one  another  vary,  and  show  just 
where  the  fire  is. 

We  went  ashore  early  in  the  morning,  and  rode  rapidly  along,  cross- 
ing the  great  Nicolas  Bridge.  At  the  end  of  it  is  a  little  chapel.  In 
that  chapel  are  holy  pictures,  and  the  citizens  as  they  pass  cross  them- 
selves and  bow.  Some  perform  elaborate  devotions  in  the  street,  at- 
tracting attention  only  from  foreigners,  like  ourselves,  on  their  first 
arrival  in  the  country. 

Soon  the  carriage  drew  up  opposite  St.  Isaac's  Cathedral,  whose  stu- 
pendous gilded  dome  we  had  seen  glittering  in  the  morning  light  more 
than  ten  miles  down  the  bay.  % 

After  arranging  at  the  hotel,  we  made  a  general  tour  of  the  town. 
The  streets  are  very  straight,  and  the  widest  I  have  ever  seen  in  a  large 
city.  Even  the  cross-streets  are,  many  of  them,  wider  than  Broadway. 
The  public  buildings  are  more  numerous  than  in  other  capitals,  and  of 
vast  size.  In  one  part  of  the  city,  near  the  Admiralty,  there  is  almost  a 
continuous  mile  and  a  half  of  public  buildings.  In  another  section  one 
may  walk  along  the  Neva  for  a  mile  and  see  nothing  but  massive  col- 
umns and  stupendous  walls. 


154  RUSSIA'S   "WINDOW    INTO   EUROPE." 

The  city,  however,  is  built  upon  a  flat  surface,  and  the  eye  is  not 
satisfied  with  the  effect,  especially  as  the  colors  are  uniform.  From  one 
of  my  books  I  take  the  following,  which  is  correct :  "  No  buildings  are 
raised  above  the  rest  ;  masses  of  architecture,  worthy  of  mountains  for 
their  pedestals,  are  ranged  side  by  side  in  endless  lines,  and  the  eye, 
nowhere  gratified  either  by  elevation  or  groupings,  wanders  unsatisfied 
over  a  monotonous  sea  of  stuccoed  palaces,  vainly  seeking  a  point  of 
antiquity  or  shade  on  which  to  repose."  In  winter,  when  all  things  are 
covered  for  months  with  "the  pale  shroud  of  snow,"  it  is  so  uniform 
that  were  it  not  for  the  animation  caused  by  the  skaters  on  the  river  and 
the  sledges,  moving,  swift  as  the  wind  and  much  more  silently,  through 
the  streets  and  along  the  canals  and  rivers,  it  would  be  intolerable. 

Generally  speaking,  the  city  has  a  deserted  appearance.  Fewer  peo- 
ple, in  proportion  to  the  extent'  of  the  city,  are  seen  in  the  streets  than 
elsewhere.  This  arises  from  the  length  and  width  of  the  streets,  from 
the  number  of  very  large  uninhabited  public  buildings,  and  the  number 
of  streets  bordering  on  rivers  and  canals,  which,  of  course,  give  only  one 
side  for  population.  No  population  that  could  live  in  St.  Petersburg,  or 
do  business  there,  could  ever  give  it  the  appearance  of  Paris,  London, 
Berlin,  Vienna,  or  New  York. 

But  some  of  the  business  streets  are  equal  to  any  in  the  world.  This 
is  notably  true  of  the  Nevski,  which  is  like  Regent  Street  in  London,  or 
Broadway  in  New  York.  It  is  three  miles  long,  nearly  straight,  and  full 
of  life.  To  walk  half  an  hour  here  and  then  turn  into  some  of  the  silent 
avenues  above  referred  to  is  like  going  out  of  a  fair  into  a  'cemetery. 

The  only  collocation  of  words  that  I  can  recall  to  describe  St.  Peters- 
burg adequately,  is  the  phrase  "grand,  gloomy,  and  peculiar."  The 
gloom  to  me  seemed  to  predominate  over  the  grandeur.  Most  of  these 
vast  edifices  are  the  signs,  the  results,  and  the  bulwarks  of  a  despotism 
as  absolute  as  any  which  ever  existed,  and  the  labors  and  money  to 
build  and  maintain  them  have  been  wrung  and  pressed  from  the  hearts, 
and  snatched  from  the  backs  and  mouths  of  the  suffering  millions. 
Everv  if  they  were  not  what  they  are,  they  are  too  silent,  monotonous, 


THK    NKVSKl    PROSPKCT. 


RUSSIA'S   "WINDOW    INTO   EUROPE."  157 

and  vast  to  produce  other  than  a  depressing  effect.  The  skies  often 
clouded,  the  river  dull  and  dark,  the  atmosphere  laden  with  dust,  the 
wind  howling,  shrieking,  whistling,  moaning,  or  sighing,  add  to  the  im- 
pression. Ruskin,  writing  of  Switzerland,  speaks  of  the  "mountain 
glory"  and  of  the  "mountain  gloom,"  and  accounts  for  some  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  people  by  the  predominancy  of  one  or  the  other. 
The  gloom  of  St.  Petersburg  predominates  over  the  glory,  though  the 
glory  is  such  as  to  justify  national  pride  when  the  obstacles  surmounted 
in  building  so  great  a  city  in  such  a  place  are  taken  into  the  account. 
None  but  a  despot,  of  almost  boundless  resources,  whose  intellect  was 
as  imperial  as  his  power,  could  have  achieved  it. 

Some  of  my  foreign  friends,  long  resident  in  St.  Petersburg,  tell  me 
that  they  were  similarly  affected  on  first  settling  there  ;  that  it  continued 
for  some  years,  then  gradually  passed  away ;  but  all  said  that  if  any 
personal  cause  for  low  spirits  arises  it  is  sure  to  return.  Only  one  per- 
son, a  lady,  who  has  lived  there  thirty-five  years,  was  really  enthusiastic, 
and  said  that  "  she  liked  St.  Petersburg,  and  hoped  to  live  there  till  she 
died." 

One  glorious  transition  they  have.  In  the  language  of  one  who  has 
often  seen  it,  it  is  "  when  the  sun  in  springtime  removes  the  pale  shroud 
from  the  earth  and  the  waters,  the  lively  green  of  the  painted  roofsr  and 
the  bright  cupolas  of  the  churches  enable  the  eye  again  to  revel  in  the 
long  untasted  enjoyment  of  color,  while  the  river  gayly  mirrors  the 
splendid  houses  that  grace  its  banks." 

Before  entering  upon  a  description  of  St.  Petersburg  more  minutely, 
I  will  describe  a  visit  to  a  suburban  village.  A  merchant  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, whose  acquaintance  I  had  the  good  fortune  to  make,  and  from 
whom  I  derived  much  valuable  information,  invited  me  to  dine  with  him 
at  the  country  house  which  his  family  occupied  during  the  summer. 
The  reader  will  observe  that  I  say  during  "the  summer,"  not  the  hot 
weather.  A  summer  in  Russia  is  not  at  all  times  hot.  It  is,  however, 
either  hot  or  cold  —  seldom  lukewarm.  Russia  being  a  flat  country, 
when  the  wind  blows  from  the  north,  whether  in  July  or  August,  it  is 


158  RUSSIA'S   "WINDOW    INTO   EUROPE." 

cold,  and  when  it  blows  from  the  south  it  is  intensely  hot.  So,  on  this 
occasion,  early  in  August,  the  day  was  cold  enough  to  require  fires  and 
an  overcoat. 

Leaving  the  office  of  my  host,  we  took  a  steamer  upon  the  Neva,  rid- 
ing past  the  magnificent  buildings  on  either  hand  until  we  reached  the 
station.  The  suburbs  of  St.  Petersburg,  for  a  few  miles,  are  very 
unprepossessing.  But  after  passing  over  twenty  miles,  fine  estates 
began  to  appear,  in  which  all  that  art  could  do  to  supply  the  defects  of 
nature  had  been  done.  Trees  had  been  planted  in  large  numbers,  and 
flowers  and  fountains  rivalled  each  other  in  sparkle  and  beauty. 

The  village,  when  reached,  resembled  some  of  our  Western  towns, 
where  some  of  the  original  log-huts  remain,  while  new  and  ornate  houses 
exist  among  them.  The  streets  showed  signs  of  unknown  depths  of 
mud,  and  what  sidewalks  there  were,  like  those  in  the  Western  towns 
referred  to,  were  made  of  plank.  Beautiful  suburbs,  such  as  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson,  the  shores  of  Long  Island  Sound,  and  the  hills  and  sea- 
coast  of  New  Jersey,  give  to  New  York,  or  those  surrounding  Boston, 
Philadelphia,  Cincinnati,  or  any  of  our  large  cities  and  several  of  the 
European  capitals,  are  wholly  wanting. 

It  is  claimed  that  the  air  is  much  more  healthful  thirty  miles  from  St. 
Petersburg  than  in  the  city.  This  may  be  so,  but,  so  far  as  I  could 
judge,  the  advantage  of  going  "  into  the  country  "  there  is  not  as  great 
as  in  most  other  places.  My  friend,  however,  took  issue  with  me  on 
this  point,  and  held  that  the  great  relief  experienced  in  the  change  from 
the  dust,  heat,  and  gloom  of  the  city,  to  the  enjoyment  of  the  free  range 
of  the  hills,  was  delightful.  As  to  the  hills,  they  were  smaller  than 
those  in  the  streets  of  Brooklyn  or  Cincinnati. 

The  Rev.  William  Nicholson,  the  representative  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  in  Russia,  had  lent  me  an  account  of  a  tour  in 
Russia  by  an  English  clergyman.  I  had  that  morning  read  about 
twenty  pages  of  it,  giving  a  sketch  of  his  voyage  from  Hull,  England,  to 
St.  Petersburg.  As  we  were  walking  through  the  village,  my  host  saw 
a  lady  on  the  other  side  of  the  street,  and  said  to  me,  "  Let  us  cross ; 


RUSSIA'S   "WINDOW    INTO   EUROPE."  161 

there  is  a  lady  to  whom  I  would  like  to  introduce  you."  When  we 'met, 
and  her  name,  Mrs.  D ,  was  announced,  I  said  : 

"  Mrs.  D ,  your  husband  is  a  banker  ?  " 

"Yes." 

"  You  have  three  children  ? " 

"Yes." 

"  You  are  a  daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Brown  ? " 

"Yes." 

"  And  a  granddaughter  of  the  famous  John  Brown  of  Haddington  ? " 

"  Why,  yes,  sir  "  [with  great  astonishment]  ;  "  how  did  you  know  any- 
thing about  me  ? " 

In  point  of  fact,  this  book  had  contained  the  account  of  the  writer's 
meeting  this  banker's  wife  on  the  steamship  with  her  three  children, 
and  of  her  ancestry.  I  had  leaped  to  the  conclusion  from  her  appear- 
ance and  unusual  name,  and  the  limited  number  of  English  ladies  there. 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

ST.    PETERSBURG    IN    DETAIL. 

M'KENZIE  WALLACE,  in  his  intensely  interesting  and,  in 
general,  very  accurate,  work  on  Russia,  speaks  of  St.  Peters- 
burg thus  : 

"  From  whatever  side  the  traveller  approaches  St.  Petersburg,  unless 
he  goes  thither  by  sea,  he  must  travel  several  hundred  miles  of  forest 
and  morass.  In  the  midst  of  a  waste  and  howling  wilderness  he  sud- 
denly comes  on  a  magnificent  artificial  oasis.  Of  all  the  great  European 
cities,  the  one  which  most  resembles  the  capital  of  the  Tsars  is  Berlin. 
Both  are  built  on  perfectly  level  ground.  Both  have  wide,  regularly 
arranged,  badly  paved  streets.  In  both  there  is  a  general  look  of  stiff- 
ness, which  indicates  military  discipline  and  German  bureaucracy ;  but 
there  is  at  least  one  profound  difference.  Though  Berlin  is  said  by 
geographers  to  be  built  on  the  Spree,  you  might  live  a  long  time  in  the 
city  without  ever  noticing  the  sluggish,  dirty  little  stream  upon  which 
the  name  of  a  river  has  been  undeservedly  conferred.  St.  Petersburg, 
on  the  contrary,  is  built  on  a  magnificent  river,  which  forms 'the  main 
feature  of  the  place.  Like  the  river,  everything  in  St.  Petersburg  is  on 
the  colossal  scale.  The  streets,  the  squares,  the  palaces,  the  public 
buildings,  the  churches,  whatever  may  be  their  defects,  have  at  least  the 
attribute  of  greatness,  and  seem  to  have  been  designed  for  the  countless 
generations  to  come  rather  than  for  the  wants  of  the  present  genera- 
tion." 

He  then  says  that  what  the  St.  Petersburgians  may  justly  be  proud  of 
is  the  general  grandiose  appearance  of  their  city,  and  not  the  particular 
beauty  of  their  residences.  This  remark  is  true.  Nevertheless,  there 
are  many  buildings  and  many  other  things  in  St.  Petersburg  which  com- 

162 


ST.   PETERSBURG   IN    DETAIL.  165 

pare  favorably  with  those  in  the  other  capitals,  and  I  am  inclined  to 
agree  with  another  writer  who  says  that  "  none  of  the  oldest  and  pret 
tiest  of  European  cities  have  much  to  boast  of  when  brought  into  com- 
parison with  St.  Petersburg."  I  shall  describe  some  of  the  chief  objects 
of  interest,  interweaving  accurate  information,  derived  from  various 
sources,  with  personal  experience. 

We  will  begin  with  the  fortress  and  cathedral  of  St.  Peter  and  St. 
Paul :  The  cathedral  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  fortifications.  It  is  two 
hundred  and  ten  feet  long,  and  ninety-eight  feet  wide ;  has  a  belfry  one 
hundred  and  twelve  feet  high  ;  and  above  this  rises  a  spire  in  the  shape 
of  a  pyramid.  The  spire  is  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  feet  high,  the 
globe  five  feet,  and  the  cross  twenty-one.  The  top  of  the  cross  is  three 
hundred  and  seventy-one  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ground,  which 
makes  it  ten  feet  higher  than  St.  Paul's  in  London.  It  is,  with  one 
exception,  the  tallest  spire  in  Russia,  and  is  elegantly  gilded. 

It  has  had  a  peculiar  history.  Between  1733  and  1756  it  was  struck 
by  lightning  three  times.  The  third  time  the  spire  fell  in,  and  ruined  a 
clock  which  had  been  placed  in  the  tower  at  great  expense.  In  1830,  a 
peasant  climbed  to  the  summit  of  the  spire  with  only  a  nail  and  a  rope, 
and  repaired  the  angel  and  cross. 

In  this  cathedral,  all  the  sovereigns  of  Russia,  since  the  founder  of 
this  city,  lie  buried,  except  Peter  II.,  who  died  in  Moscow  and  is  buried 
there.  Opposite  the  tomb  of  Peter  the  Great,  is  an  image  giving  his 
size  at  his  birth,  which  was  in  harmony  with  his  subsequent  gigantic 
proportions  :  he  was  nineteen  and  one  quarter  inches  in  length,  and 
five  and  one  quarter  inches  in  breadth.  Paul  and  Nicholas,  the  latter 
buried  opposite  Peter  the  Great,  and  the  assassinated  Emperor  Alex- 
ander lie  close  to  the  walls  around  which  hang  standards,  flags,  shields, 
and  battle-axes  taken  from  the  French,  the  Poles,  the  Swedes,  and  the 
Turks. 

Services  were  progressing  when  we  entered.  The  priest  performing 
them  had  the  deepest  and  heaviest,  as  well  as  the  most  musical,  bass 
voice  that  I  have  ever  heard.  It  is  not  extravagant  to  say  that  in  chant- 


166  ST.   PETERSBURG   IN    DETAIL. 

ing  and  in  reading  it  was  louder  and  stronger  than  the  voice  of  any  two 
of  the  great  singers  that  appear  in  oratorios  and  have  a  world- wide  fame. 
As  a  person  remarked,  it  was  grand  and  terrible  to  hear  him.  Of  these 
bass  voices  and  their  relation  to  the  Russo-Greek  services  I  shall  have 
something  to  say  in  another  chapter.  Surrounded  by  tombs,  he  read 
the  services,  and  the  grandeur  of  the  decorations,  and  the  awful  roll  of 
his  voice,  gave  a  new  meaning  to  the  words  : 

Hark !  from  the  tombs,  a  doleful  sound, 
My  ears  attend  the  cry, 

and  the  mighty  fortifications,  erected  by  the  despots  whose  bodies 
fill  those  tombs,  gave  impressiveness  to  the  other  words  of  the  same 
hymn  : 

Princes,  this  clay  must  be  your  bed, 
In  spite  of  all  your  towers. 

The  grandeur  of  the  interior  cannot  be  adequately  described,  as  the 
style  is  different  from  anything  that  I  had  ever  seen. 

The  fortress  in  which  the  cathedral  stands  has  long  been  used  as  a 
state  prison.  It  was  here  that  Peter  the  Great  imprisoned  his  oldest 
son  when  he  was  arraigned  for  treason.  Here  his  father  visited  and 
examined  him,  and  immediately  after  the  visit  he  suddenly  died,  and  it 
has  ever  since  been  believed  that,  according  to  the  custom  of  those 
times,  he  was  subjected  to  torture,  and  died  as  a  result  of  his  suffering. 

In  this  dreary  dungeon,  also,  the  conspirators  of  1825  were  imprisoned 
and  tried,  and  some  of  them  were  executed.  Here,  too,  many  Nihilists 
in  recent  times  have  been  imprisoned.  Some  of  them  have  written 
accounts  which  have  been  circulated  by  the  Nihilist  propagation  societies, 
of  the  awful  suffering  which  they  have  had  to  endure.  An  English 
newspaper  correspondent,  who  obtained  access  in  some  way  to  the  cells, 
has  also  written  harrowing  accounts.  Tombs  of  the  dead  sovereigns  — 
some  assassinated,  some  tortured,  and  some  heart-broken,  which  was 
pract:cally  the  case  with  the  great  Emperor  Nicholas,  whose  death  was 
hastened  by  the  report  of  an  unsuccessful  attack  made  by  his  armies  — 
and  these  gloomy  cells,  into  some  of  which  the  light  of  day  never  comes, 


ST.   PETERSBURG    IN    DETAIL. 


167 


make  a  combination  the  true  emblems  of  which  are  sightless  skulls, 
instruments  of  torture,  and  rusty  keys,  all  of  which  may  be  seen  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  edifice.  In  pleasant  contrast  to  these  depressive 
objects  is  the  celebrated  boat  of  Peter  the  Great,  which  bears  the  title 
of  The  Grandfather  of  the  Russian  Navy.  It  is  the  boat  that  Peter 


—  -*•-  •-  5;  TT fr  ^-^Si^^fcyj7C'«r<^igT  -      - P  "'-"  -  *^A-  -  -  -^~~ 

^i-S^C^^^fe^^^^^ 


found  under  a  shed  at  Ismailovo,  the  country  residence  of  his  grand, 
father.  He  was  told  by  his  shipbuilder  that  it  could  sail  against 
the  wind,  and  this  fact  so  aroused  his  curiosity  that  he  gave  orders 
to  have  it  put  in  order  and  launched  on  the  Yauza  River  at  Moscow. 
Sailing  this  boat  gave  him  an  interest  in  naval  matters,  and  resulted 
in  the  construction  of  a  fleet  and  the  extension  of  the  Russian  mon- 
archy. 

Passing  along  the  Nevski  Prospect,  the  visitor  sees  two  large  statues, 


168  ST.    PETERSBURG   IN   DETAIL. 

one  of  Kutuzof,  and  the  other  of  the  famous  General  Barclay  de  Tolly. 
Behind  these  statues  stands  Kazan  Cathedral.  It  is  built  in  imitation 
of  St.  Peter's  at  Rome,  and  cost  three  million  dollars.  They  profess  to 
have  the  miraculous  image  of  the  Virgin,  which  was  brought  from  Kazan 
in  1579.  It  is  covered  with  fine  gold  and  precious  stones  worth  more 
than  seventy-five  thousand  dollars.  Among  those  the  most  conspicuous 
is  a  huge  sapphire.  Several  immense  candelabras  of  silver  hang  down 
in  front.  The  pulpit,  the  seat  for  the  emperor,  and  the  floor  are  made 
of  marble,  the  steps  of  jasper. 

The  keys  of  many  fortresses  captured  by  the  Russian  arms  hang 
around  the  palace  ;  among  others,  those  of  Dresden,  Hamburg,  Leipsic, 
Utrecht,  and  Rheims.  The  name  of  the  Almighty,  in  the  centre  of  the 
ikonostas,  is  rendered  in  precious  stones.  The  people  were  constantly 
coming  and  going,  and  we  could  see  the  manner  in  which  the  revenues 
of  the  Church  were  kept  up,  as  all  who  came  bought  candles  or  left 
money. 

After  an  hour  in  Kazan  Cathedral,  we  proceeded  to  the  Winter  Palace. 

This  stupendous  edifice  is  four  hundred  and  fifty-five  feet  long,  three 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide,  and  is  divided  into  twelve  or  fifteen  rooms 
filled  with  most  magnificent  paintings.  These  paintings  represnt  great 
battles,  such  as  the  battle  of  Leipsic,  August  6,  1813,  the  taking  of 
Paris,  March  30,  1814,  and  some  sixty  or  eighty  other  great  battles  in 
which  the  Russian  army  has  participated.  Magnificent  portraits  also, 
can  be  seen  there  of  the  greatest  generals  and  princes  of  Russia,  includ- 
ing Mentchikof  and  Count  Nesselrode,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Empire. 

The  most  striking  apartment  is  the  drawing-room  of  the  empress.  It 
is  affirmed  that  no  court  in  Europe  presents  such  a  brilliant  appearance 
as  that  of  Russia.  The  illuminations  are  grander  than  are  seen  else- 
where. In  this  drawing-room  is  a  table  containing  the  rules  of  Queen 
Catherine,  enforced  at  her  conversazioni. 

These  rules  are  wise  and  witty,  and  reflect  much  light  on  the  semi- 
barbaric  state  of  the  nobility  in  the  time  of  Catherine,  as  will  be  seen 
from  the  following  translation  : 


THE    WINTER    PALACE. 


ST.   PETERSBURG   IN    DETAIL.  171 

I.  Leave  your  rank  outside,  as  well  as  your  hat,  and  especially  your  sword. 

II.  Leave  your  right  of  precedence,  your  pride,  and  any  similar  feeling,  outside  the  door. 

III.  Be  gay,  but  do  not  spoil  anything.     Do  not  break  or  gnaw  anything. 

IV.  Sit,  stand,  walk,  as  you  will,  without  reference  to  anybody. 

V.  Talk  merrily,  but  not  very  loud,  so  as  not  to  make  the  head  of  anybody  ache. 

VI.  Argue  without  anger  and  without  excitement. 

VII.  Neither  sigh  nor  yawn,  nor  make  anybody  dull  or  heavy. 

VIII.  In  all  innocent  games,  in  whatever  one  proposes,  let  all  engage. 

IX.  Eat  whatever  is  sweet  and  savory,  and  drink  with  moderation,  so  that  each  can  find  his 
legs  on  leaving  the  room. 

X.  Tell  no  tales  out  of  school.     Whatever  goes  in  at  one  ear  must  go  out  at  the  other  be- 
fore leaving  the  room. 

Whoever  broke  one  of  those  rules,  on  the  testimony  of  two  witnesses, 
had  to  drink  a  glass  of  cold  water  and  read  a  page  of  the  Telemachiade. 
Whoever  broke  three  of  the  rules  the  same  evening  had  to  commit  six 
lines  of  the  book.  Whoever  broke  the  tenth  rule  could  never  again 
be  admitted. 

The  crown  jewels  are  kept  here.  The  imperial  crown  carries  on  its 
summit  a  cross  made  of  five  diamonds,  supported  by  a  huge  ruby. 
Eleven  great  diamonds  separate  these  diamonds  and  its  cross,  and  on 
either  side  is  a.  hook  of  thirty-eight  very  large  and  perfect  pearls,  and 
the  value  of  the  jewels  in  the  crown  is  823,956  rubles.  The  coronet  of 
the  empress  is  the  most  beautiful  mass  of  diamonds  ever  brought  to- 
gether in  a  single  ornament.  Altogether  there  are  one  hundred  and 
two.  There  is  a  diamond  necklace  there  composed  of  twenty-two  large 
diamonds.  Strings  of  imperial  pearls,  beryls  mounted  in  diamonds, 
and  the  famous  Orloff  diamond,  weighing  one  hundred  ami  eighty-five 
carats,  valued  at  2,399,410  rubles,  make  up  a  mass  of  treasures  of 
this  kind  equaled  by  no  empire  in  the  world.  A  place  of  interest  to 
most  visitors  is  the  room  in  which  the  great  Emperor  Nicholas  died, 
March  2,  1855. 

Owing  to  repairs  in  progress,  the  whole  of  the  Winter  Palace  could 
not  be  seen  when  I  was  in  St.  Petersburg. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

FURTHER  WONDERS  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG. 

A  REST  of  a  day,  gave  us  time  to  reflect  on  what  we  had  already 
seen,  and  to  prepare  for  additional  excursions.  Our  first  visit 
was  to  the  Hermitage. 

This  was  founded  by  Catherine  the  Great.  Here  she  spent  her  even- 
ings conversing  with  philosophers,  poets,  artists,  and  foreign  travellers. 
She  intended  it  to  be  a  refuge  from  the  labors  of  government ;  hence 
its  name. 

It  has  been  improved  and  reconstructed  in  modern  times.  It  is 
claimed  that  for  elegance  and  beauty  and  the  costliness  of  the  materials 
of  which  it  is  constructed,  it  has  scarcely  any  equal  in  Europe.  A  bare 
catalogue  of  its  contents  would  fill  a  chapter. 

Here,  for  the  first  time  on  the  Continent,  I  found  English  paintings. 
The  different  schools  are  represented  according  to  the  following  num- 
bers: the  Italian  by  333 ;  Spanish  by  115;  Flemish,  Dutch,  and  German 
by  944 ;  English  by  8  ;  French  by  172  ;  and  Russia  by  65. 

The  catalogue  from  which  I  took  these  figures  being  somewhat  old, 
they  are  probably  incorrect. 

The  collection  of  Spanish  pictures  is  said  to  be  the  best  to  be  found 
out  of  Spain. 

In  my  wanderings  through  the  galleries  of  Europe,  including  those  of 
Dresden,  which  have  an  unusual  number,  I  have  seen  more  than  five 
hundred  of  Philip  Wouverman's  paintings,  and  one  peculiarity  was  that 
they  always  had  a  white  horse  in  them.  At  the  Hermitage  they  exhibit 
a  picture  of  his  without  a  white  horse,  and  consider  it  a  great  curiosity. 
A  critic  informed  me  that,  considering  the  number  of  Wouverman's 
paintings,  he  attained  a  higher  average  than  any  other  great  painter  of 

his  time. 

172 


FURTHER   WONDERS   OF   ST.   PETERSBURG.  173 

A  most  striking  painting  is  one  executed  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  for 
the  Empress  Catherine  II.  He  was  to  exhibit  Russia  vanquishing  its 
early  difficulties,  and  the  Empress  gave  orders  that  he  might  take  any 
subject  that  he  pleased,  and  she  would  pay  any  price  that  he  might 
name.  He  named  fifteen  hundred  guineas  as  the  price,  and  represented 
an  infant  strangling  serpents.  The  queen  was  delighted,  and  sent  him 
a  message  by  the  Russian  ambassador,  and  a  present  of  a  gold  snuff-box, 
with  her  portrait  enclosed  in  large  diamonds. 

In  one  of  the  rooms  they  exhibit  a  clock  which  executes  "  overtures 
with  the  effect  and  precision  of  a  band."  In  another  room  are  the  turn- 
ing-lathe and  carving  instruments  of  Peter  the  Great,  his  mathematical 
instruments,  telescopes,  and  books,  the  heavy  iron  staff  that  he  carried 
about,  a  rod  that  marked  his  height,  and  the  cast  of  his  face  made  when 
he  was  alive.  They  have  a  time-piece  in  the  shape  of  a  gilded  peacock. 
It  is  now  broken,  but  once  the  peacock  expanded  its  wings,  just  as  a 
cock  of  the  same  color  clapped  his  wings  and  crowed,  an  owl  rolled  his 
eyes,  and  a  grasshopper  went  to  feeding  on  a  mushroom. 

Anyone  who  has  visited  the  Hermitage  will  say,  How  imperfect  this 
description  is !  ]3ut  he  will  also  wonder  that  I  was  able  to  select  any- 
thing from  the  almost  unlimited  accumulation  of  treasures,  works  of  art, 
relics  and  curiosities. 

The  Scientific  Institutions  of  St.  Petersburg  amply  repajd  the  day's 
attention  which  I  was  able  to  give  them. 

The  university  has  about  eighteen  hundred  students.  Previous  to  the 
time  of  Nicholas,  Russians  of  wealth  sent  their  sons  to  foreign  univer- 
sities. Nicholas  set  himself  against  that,  and  persuaded  his  ministers 
to  send  their  sons  to  the  University  of  St.  Petersburg. 

The  Academy  of  Arts  has  many  fine  pictures. 

The  Mining  School  has  the  richest  collection  in  the  world,  unless  the 
British  Museum  equals  it.  The  latter  has  the  advantage  of  being  better 
arranged.  I  was  very  much  interested  in  this  collection  which  contains  a 
huge  bar  of  native  gold,  and  crystals  of  gold  from  the  Siberian  gold-fields. 
One  was  worth  twenty  thousand  dollars.  An  ingot  of  platinum,  upward 


174  FURTHER   WONDERS   OF  ST.   PETERSBURG. 

of  ten  pounds  in  weight,  was  also  shown.  In  this  building  was  a  mineral 
that  I  had  never  seen  —  the  petzite,  composed  of  silver  and  tellurium  ; 
also  huge  masses  of  native  copper  from  the  Kirghiz  steppes ;  the  largest 
crystals  of  topaz,  one  yellow,  and  another  blue  :  the  yellow  one  is  valued 
at  twenty-five  hundred  dollars.  We  saw  a  single  crystal  of  crown  beryl, 
weighing  five  pounds,  and  worth  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  There  is 
a  solid  mass  of  malachite,  weighing  twenty-five  hundred  pounds  avoirdu- 
pois ;  a  single  crystal  of  quartz  weighing  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  twenty-five  pounds.  The  library  I  did  not  visit. 

In  the  mineralogical  collection  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  I  saw  a 
huge  aerolitic  stone  that  fell  at  Smolensk  in  1807,  and  in  the  zoological 
collection  the  remains  of  the  great  mammoth  that  had  endured  "  through 
countless  ages  in  the  ice  of  Siberian  rivers,  with  its  flesh  so  preserved 
from  decay  that  wolves  and  bears  came  down  to  feed  upon  it."  They 
show  fifteen  hundred  relics  of  an  ancient  and  extinct  species  of  rhinoc- 
eros. They  have  a  stuffed  specimen  of  the  sea-otter  six  feet  long,  whose 
skin  is  valued  at  six  thousand  dollars. 

In  the  Asiatic  Museum  there  are  one  thousand  three  hundred  and 
sixty-nine  volumes  in  the  Chinese  language. 

The  monasteries  of  Russia  are  the  wealthiest,  the  most  powerful,  and 
the  most  celebrated  in  the  world.  Three  of  them  far  surpass  all  others 
because  they  are  the  seats  of  the  Metropolates.  These  are  in  Kief, 
Moscow  and  St.  Petersburg. 

The  monastery  of  St.  Alexander  Nevski,  which  we  are  now  to  visit,  is 
inferior  only  to  that  of  the  Trinity  in  Moscow.  The  site  is  the  extreme 
end  of  the  Nevski.  It  occupies  a  vast  space,  surrounded  by  walls,  within 
which  are  churches,  dormitories  for  the  monks,  high  towers,  and  large 
gardens. 

On  this  spot,  in  the  year  1241,  St.  Alexander  defeated  the  Swedes  and 
their  allies  in  a  hotly-contested  battle.  He  was  first  buried  in  Vladimir. 
Peter  the  Great  selected  this  spot  on  account  of  the  battle,  for  the  site 
of  the  monastery,  and  brought  the  remains  of  the  saint  there  with  extra- 
ordinary display.  The  grandeur  of  the  cathedral  has  been  maintained 


FURTHER   WONDERS   OF   ST.   PETERSBURG.  175 

without  regard  to  expense.  Italy  has  yielded  its  finest  marble,  Siberia 
many  precious  stones,  and  very  many  pearls  have  been  brought  from 
Persia.  Here  is  the  shrine  of  Alexander  Nevski. 

This  shrine  is  of  solid  silver,  and,  with  its  ornaments,  weighs  three 
thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  absolutely  pure  metal.  It  is 
a  pyramid  fifteen  feet  high.  On  its  summit  is  a  catafalque  surrounded 
by  angels  "  as  large  as  life,"  having  trumpets  and  flowers  made  of  silver. 

Immensely  valuable  presents  for  the  monastery  were  obtained  from 
Persia.  A  Russian  envoy  was  murdered  at  Teheran  in  1829.  As  an 
offering  of  peace  and  penitence,  the  Persians  sent  a  "  long  train  of  rare 
animals,  gold  webs,  gold  stuffs,  and  pearls."  The  following  account  of 
the  way  in  which  those  things  were  brought,  is  worth  quoting : 

"  The  pearls  and  gold  stuffs  and  rich  shawls  were  carried  on  large 
silver  and  gold  dishes,  by  magnificently  dressed  Persians.  The  Persian 
prince,  Khosra  Mirza,  drove  in  a  state  carriage  drawn  by  six  horses.  The 
elephants,  bearing  on  their  backs  towers  filled  with  Indian  warriors,  had 
leather  boots  to  protect  them  from  the  cold,  and  cages  of  tigers  and  lions 
were  provided  with  double  skins  of  the  Northern  Polar  bear." 

Many  of  the  finest  pearls  were  given  to  this  monastery.  Among  the 
great  treasures  exhibited  are  miters  set  in  the  most  costly  jewels,  pon- 
tifical robes  of  gold  brocade,  and  gifts  of  individual  metropolitans  and 
princes.  The  episcopal  staff  turned  by  Peter  the  Great  for  the  first 
Metropolitan  of  St.  Petersburg,  is  the  property  of  this  institution.  The 
crown  of  St.  Alexander  is  also  to  be  seen,  and  the  bed  on  which  Peter 
died. 

It  is  the  fashion  for  illustrious  Russian  families  to  bury  their  dead 
within  these  walls.  They  have  to  pay  immense  sums  for  the  privilege. 
The  graves  are  very  close.  There  are  sixty  or  eighty  monks,  and  an 
academy  is  sustained.  The  services  are  magnificent.  The  priests  wear 
gorgeous  robes,  and  the  monks  are  divided  into  two  antiphonal  choirs. 
Their  singing  is  worthy  a  journey  of  a  thousand  miles  to  hear,  and  is  an 
astonishing  illustration  of  the  powers  of  the  human  voice. 

I  visited  the  monastery  twice,  and  listened  to  the   singing  and  the 


176  FURTHER   WONDERS   OF   ST.   PETERSBURG. 

prayers  for  more  than  two  hours  on  each  occasion.  The  bearing  of  the 
monks  after  the  service  ended,  and  the  hurried,  irreverent  manner  in 
which  they  left  the  altar,  did  not  impress  me  favorably  ;  nor  did  the 
visit  which  I  made  to  the  cells  occupied  by  them.  But  their  singing,  and 
especially  the  voice  of  the  chief  celebrant,  can  never  be  forgotten. 

Some  remarkable  monuments  and  statues  are  to  be  seen  in  St.  Peters- 
burg. The  monument  of  Sir  James  Wylie  suggests  a  romantic  history. 
This  celebrated  Scotchman  was  practising  medicine  in  St.  Petersburg, 
when  a  certain  count  and  favorite  of  the  Emperor  Paul  had  an  abscess 
on  his  neck.  The  best  medical  men  attended  him  without  benefit.  He 
was  near  death,  when,  on  the  advice  of  his  friends,  he  sent  for  Dr. 
Wylie  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  who  opened  the  tumor,  and  the  count 
was  almost  restored  to  health  at  once.  Paul  made  him  court  physician. 
This  was  one  of  the  class  of  lucky  accidents  by  which  medical  men  have 
often  emerged  from  comparative  obscurity.  It  was  a  proverb  in  Russia, 
that  Dr.  Wylie  had  made  his  fortune  by  cutting  Count  Kutuzof's  throat. 
When  Alexander  I.  ascended  the  throne  he  retained  Sir  James  Wylie, 
as  did  also  Nicholas.  Under  their  reigns  he  was  president  of  the  Acad- 
emy. In  1812,  by  the  particular  request  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  he 
was  knighted  by  Great  Britain,  and  also  made  a  baronet.  The  monu- 
ment to  him  is  in  the  court  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Medicine,  and 
is  a  very  imposing  work. 

The  next  is  the  monument  to  Field-Marshal  Barclay  de  Tolly  and 
Marshal  Kutuzof.  I  spoke  of  this  in  describing  the  Cathedral  of  Kazan. 
There  is  also  a  monument  to  Krylof,  who  was  a  kind  of  Russian  ./Esop ; 
and  another  monument  to  Suvoroff.  This  stands  almost  in  front  of  the 
building  of  the  British  Embassy.  A  magnificent  statue  of  Emperor 
Nicholas  resting  on  a  pedestal  of  granite  of  various  colors,  attracts  great 
attention. 

A  stupendous  work  is  the  Alexandrian  Column,  "  the  greatest  mono- 
lith of  modern  times."  It  is  a  single  shaft  of  red  granite,  eighty-four 
feet  high,  besides  the  pedestal  and  capital.  The  base  of  the  pedestal 
consists  of  one  enormous  block  of  red  granite,  the  shape  of  a  cube, 


ALEXANDER  S    COLUMN. 


FURTHER  WONDERS  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG. 


179 


twenty-five  feet  in  every  dimension.  The  shaft  alone  weighs  four  hun- 
dred tons,  and  the  whole  rests  on  six  successive  rows  of  piles.  It  is 
beautiful,  and  has  this  inscription  :  "  To  Alexander  I.  Grateful  Russia." 
In  the  Nevski  Prospect  is  a  monument  of  Catherine  II.,  resting  on 
immense  blocks  of  Finnish  granite.  Around  it  there  are  nine  figures  in 
bas-relief,  of  those  who  assisted  Catherine  in  reforming  the  country. 
One  of  them  is  a  woman,  the  Princess  Woronzoff  Dashkof,  the  first 


STATUE   OF   THE   EMPEROR    NICHOLAS. 


president  of  the  Academy  of  Arts.  Among  the  others  is  the  famous 
Potemkin. 

An  equestrian  statue  of  Peter  the  Great  stands  in  front  of  the  School 
of  Engineers.  It  was  put  up  by  the  Emperor  Paul,  and  has  on  it  in 
letters  of  gold,  this  inscription  :  "  The  Grandson  to  the  Grandfather, 
1800." 

But  the  greatest  of  all  the  monuments  in  St.  Petersburg,  is  the  eques- 


i8o  FURTHER   WONDERS   OF   ST.    PETERSBURG. 

trian  statue  of  Peter  the  Great,  between  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Isaac  and 
the  river  Neva.  This  is  a  most  amazing  work  of  art.  Peter  the  Great 
is  represented  as  reining  up  his  horse  upon  the  brink  of  a  rock.  On 
both  sides,  as  well  as  in  front,  there  are  steep  precipices.  His  face  is 
turned  toward  the  Neva.  His  outstretched  hand  points  toward  the 
result  of  his  work.  A  serpent,  typical  of  the  obstacles  Peter  contended 
with,  lies  writhing  under  the  foot  of  the  horse.  The  mere  figures  can 
do  little  to  give  an  idea  of  this  work,  yet  they  must  make  an  impression. 
The  whole  is  balanced  on  the  hind  legs  and  tail  of  the  horse,  which  is 
joined  to  the  serpent's  body.  It  weighs  ten  thousand  pounds.  The 
weight  of  the  whole  metal  is  sixteen  tons.  A  single  block  of  granite 
forms  the  pedestal,  and  it  weighs  fifteen  hundred  tons.  Peter  the  Great 
stood  on  this  rock  at  the  place  whence  it  came — a  little  Finnish  village, 
four  miles  from  the  city  —  and  watched  a  victory  over  the  Swedes.  It 
took  five  hundred  men  five  weeks,  with  a  great  number  of  horses,  to 
transport  the  pedestal  to  its  place,  hauling  it  over  cannon  balls  rolling 
over  an  iron  tramway.  Vastness,  expenditure,  and  will,  are  seen  in 
everything  the  Russians  do. 

The  bells  of  St.  Petersburg  are  of  vast  size  and  corresponding  depth 
of  tone.  None  of  them  are  swung  in  ringing.  The  Russian  method  of 
bell-ringing  might,  with  propriety,  be  adopted  in  other  countries.  A 
rope  is  attached  to  the  clapper,  the  end  of  which  is  fastened  to  a  huge 
plank,  properly  balanced.  The  bell-ringer  takes  a  seat  and  works  the 
plank  with  his  leg,  striking  with  the  clapper  a  blow  as  hard  as  would  be 
produced  by  swinging  the  bell,  and  also  keeping  perfect  time. 

Peterhof  bears  the  same  relation  to  St.  Petersburg  that  Potsdam  does 
to  Berlin.  Its  chief  attraction  is  a  palace  built  by  Peter  the  Great. 
Successive  emperors  and  empresses  have  made  additions  to  it.  It  is 
reached  by  rail,  steamboat,  and  public  road.'  Inside  the  palace  are  tap- 
estries, splendid  specimens  of  porcelain,  marble,  and  malachite.  One 
apartment  contains  eight  hundred  and  sixty-three  portraits,  executed  by 
a  painter  who  travelled  through  fifty  provinces  of  Russia  for  the  purpose. 
They  all  represent  Russian  maidens. 


FURTHER  WONDERS  OF  ST.  PETERSBURG. 


183 


The  expressions,  and  generally  the  attitudes  are  different.  One  is 
represented  as  combing  her  hair ;  another,  as  looking  out  of  a  window  ; 
a  third  one  leaning  over  a  chair ;  a  fourth,  standing  in  front  of  a  glass  ; 
a  fifth,  knitting ;  a  sixth,  sewing ;  a  seventh,  embroidering ;  an  eighth, 
as  sleeping  upon  a  lounge  :  and  so  on  through  the  whole  eight  hundred 
and  sixty-three. 

The  fountains  are  "almost  equal  to  those  of  Versailles."     In  front 


ANOTHER  VIEW  OF  PETERHOF. 


of  the  palace  is  a  fountain  eighty  feet  high,  and  from  it  there  runs 
down  to  the  sea,  about  a  third  of  a  mile,  a  canal  containing  many  small 
fountains.  This  great  fountain  has  a  huge  bronze  figure  tearing  open 
the  jaws  of  a  lion,  out  of  which  rushes  water.  On  that  account,  it  is 
called  the  Sampson  Fountain.  A  continuous  ridge  of  marble  slabs 


184  FURTHER   WONDERS   OF   ST.   PETERSBURG. 

extends  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  Behind  these  slabs  lamps  are  arranged, 
and  water  pours  down  over  the  top.  In  the  building  called  Marly  are 
many  curiosities  from  the  time  of  Peter :  a  bed  in  which  he  slept,  with 
the  curtains  and  coverlet  presented  by  the  Emperor  of  China ;  his  dress- 
ing-gown, which  was  given  him  by  the  Shah  of  Persia.  Here  are  a 
table  and  a  box  made  by  Peter.  In  the  box  are  the  works  of  a  watch 
that  he  took  to  pieces.  Quite  a  curious  thing  is  to  watch  the  feeding  of 
the  fish  in  a  pond  in  front  of  this  little  house.  Peter  had  the  pond 
stocked  with  carp,  chub,  and  other  fish,  and  then  the  fish  were  trained 
to  come  at  the  ringing  of  the  bell  to  be  fed.  In  another  little  building, 
called  Monplaisir,  there  are  many  fine  pictures,  but  the  chief  object  is 
Peter  the  Great's  bedroom,  containing  his  bed,  dressing-gown,  night-cap, 
and  slippers. 

The  Peterhof  fetes  attracted  great  multitudes.  One  occurred  while  I 
was  in  St.  Petersburg,  at  which,  for  the  first  time  since  he  ascended  the 
throne,  the  present  emperor  rode  freely  among  the  people.  The  entire 
forest  was  illuminated,  and  the  fete  culminated  on  Sunday  night.  I 
visited  the  ground  the  next  day,  and  the  mere  ruins  of  the  festival  were 
grand. 

As  great  a  curiosity  as  there  is  on  the  ground  is  a  metal  tree  so 
related  to  the  water-works  that,  by  turning  a  key  all  the  leaves  of  the 
tree  will  discharge  large  quantities  of  water. 


INTERIOR   OF   ST.    ISAAC'S   CATHEDRAL. 


CHAPTER   XX. 

STILL    EXPLORING    ST.    PETERSBURG. 

IT  is  my  hope  so  to  describe  St.  Petersburg  that  the  reader  will  dis- 
cern it  distinctly,  and  not  as  a  vague  and  unsatisfactory  conception. 
I  would  make  it  possible  for  him  to  form  as  clear  an  idea  of  St.  Peters- 
burg as  he  has  of  the  great  cities  of  Central  Europe  —  as  Paris,  Vienna, 
and  Berlin. 

With  this'  object  in  view,  I  have  described  the  situation  of  the  city, 
and  its  general  appearance,  and  also  conducted  the  reader  through  many 
of  its  most  imposing  buildings.  But  the  grandest  of  them  all,  and  one 
of  the  most  magnificent  in  Europe,  St.  Isaac's  Cathedral,  we  have  yet 
to  visit. 

Our  hotel  was  immediately  opposite  the  cathedral.  We  gazed  upon  it 
from  the  windows  when  in  the  room,  and  passed  through  it  or  around 
it  every  time  we  went  out.  It  is  unlike,  but  equal  to,  any  ecclesiastical 
edifice  north  of  Italy.  Its  situation  is  in  Isaac's  Place,  one  of  the  largest 
open  places  in  the  city,  surrounded  by  magnificent  edifices,  and  several 
of  the  monuments  described  in  the  previous  chapter. 

This  stupendous  edifice  is  not  dedicated  to  Isaac,  the  son  of  Abraham, 
but  to  St.  Isaac  of  Dalmatia.  For  a  hundred  years  the  Russians  tried 
to  build  a  place  of  worship  on  this  spot.  The  first  was  built  by  Peter 
the  Great,  one  hundred  and  seventy-four  years  ago,  and,  like  nearly  all 
the  buildings  of  its  time,  was  of  wood.  After  the  destruction  of  that 
building,  Catherine  the  Great  began  another,  which  was  finished  in  1801. 
It  was  unsatisfactory,  and  disappeared;  but  in  1809  St.  Isaac's  Cathe- 
dral was  begun,  and  was  forty  years  in  building. 

The  reader  will  derive  from  the  following  facts  some  idea  of  the  diffi- 
culty and  the  cost.  This  building  stands  in  what  was  a  swamp,  and  one 

187 


188  STILL   EXPLORING   ST.   PETERSBURG. 

million  dollars  were  expended  in  sinking  poles  twenty-one  feet  long,  to 
make  a  foundation  for  the  cathedral.  What  would  be  an  immense  grove 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  square,  if  it  stood  upon  the  surface  instead  of  being 
sunk  beneath  it,  is  here.  Nor  was  that  sufficient,  for  on  the  river  side 
indications  of  sinking  appeared,  and  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  million  of 
dollars  was  spent  in  making  the  foundation  solid.  The  entire  building 
cost  fifteen  million  dollars. 

The  mineral  resources  of  Russia  are  greater  than  those  of  any  other 
country  in  the  world,  and  all  that  its  quarries,  and  mines,  and  countless 
workmen  can  produce  may  be  seen  in  St.  Isaac's.  The  building  is  in  the 
shape  of  a  Greek  cross,  equal  on  every  side.  It  has  four  grand  entrances, 
each  approached  by  three  very  broad  flights  of  steps,  each  step  composed 
of  "  one  entire  piece  of  granite  formed  out  of  masses  of  rock  brought 
from  Finland."  As  one  ascends  these  steps,  he  finds  himself  at  one  of 
the  four  chief  entrances.  Each  of  these  has  a  peristyle.  These  have 
one  hundred  and  twelve  pillars,  sixty  feet  high.  These  pillars  are  seven 
feet  in  diameter,  and  consist  of  granite  monoliths  exquisitely  polished. 
They  are  crowned  with  Corinthian  capitals  of  bronze,  and  over  these  is 
a  frieze  formed  of  six  polished  blocks.  Above  these  rises  at  twice  the 
height  of  these  columns,  the  central  dome.  This  is  two  hundred  and 
ninety-six  feet  high,  and  is  supported  by  thirty  pillars  of  polished  granite. 

This  cupola  is  surmounted  by  an  elegant  rotunda,  the  miniature  rep- 
resentation of  the  whole  looking  like  a  temple  on  the  mountain  top.  It 
requires  five  hundred  and  thirty  steps  to  ascend  to  the  top  of  the 
rotunda.  Then  there  are  four  smaller  cupolas,  in  all  respects  like  the 
great  one.  The  great  cupola  is  sheathed  with  copper  and,  vast  as  is  its 
size,  it  is  overlaid  with  gold.  One  hundred  and  eighty-five  pounds  of 
solid  gold  were  used  to  gild  it,  and  finally  upon  the  summit  there  is  a 
golden  cross,  the  top  of  which  is  three  hundred  and  thirty-six  feet  above 
the  ground,  and  visible  for  many  miles  in  every  direction.  So  dazzling 
is  the  effect  of  the  sunlight  upon  the  gilded  dome  and  cross  that  it  is 
impossible  to  look  at  it  more  than  a  very  few  minutes  at  a  time.  The 
diameter  of  the  dome  is  sixty-six  feet. 


PETER    THE    GREATS    COTTAGE. 


STILL   EXPLORING   ST.   PETERSBURG.  191 

The  interior  is  fully  in  harmony  with  these  great  proportions.  The 
columns  of  malachite  for  an  Ikonostas  (this  Ikonostas  is  the  central 
screen)  are  more  than  thirty  feet  high.  Pillars  of  lapis-lazuli  on  each 
side  of  the  door  of  the  screen  cost  thirty  thousand  dollars  each,  and  the 
Royal  Door  in  the  centre  is  made  of  bronze,  twenty-three  feet  high  and 
fifteen  feet  wide.  The  inmost  shrine  or  sanctuary  is  in  a  small  circu- 
lar temple,  supported  by  eight  Corinthian  pillars  of  malachite  eight  feet 
high,  gilded  at  the  top  and  bottom.  In  these  pillars  there  are  thirty-four 
thousand  pounds  of  malachite  of  an  average  cost  of  four  dollars  a 
pound,  making  the  whole  to  have  cost  one  hundred  and  thirty-six 
thousand  dollars.  The  walls  and  floor  are  all  of  polished  marble  of 
different  colors,  covered  with  pictures  of  eminent  Russian  artists.  No 
ornaments  are  seen.  The  impression  is  produced  by  vastness  and  cost. 
I  believe  the  permanence  of  the  impression  to  be  greater  than  that  of 
the  Cathedral  at  Cologne.  There  is  no  detraction  by  details  from  the 
one  grand  impression. 

From  this  ecclesiastical  monument  we  will  make  a  transition  to  the 
Museum  of  Artillery.  This  transition  in  a  despotism  such  as  that  of 
Russia  is  not  so  great  as  it  might  seem,  for  all  things  rest  upon  military 
power.  The  Church  is  upheld  by  it. 

The  museum  contains  many  great  curiosities.  The  inside  court  is 
full  of  cannon  of  all  sizes.  The  horse  on  which  Catherine  II.  rode, 
"after  the  manner  of  men,"  when  she  entered  St.  Petersburg  to  take 
the  throne,  June  28,  1762,  is  here,  stuffed,  and  the  uniform,  shirts, 
gloves,  and  decorations  of  Frederick  the  Great,  captured  during  the 
Seven  Years'  War. 

The  white  leather  coat  which  Peter  the  Great  wore  when  he  worked 
as  a  carpenter  in  Holland  is  there ;  also  an  automaton  drummer,  whose 
history  is  unknown,  and  a  machine  that  could  fire  off  one  hundred  and 
five  pistols  at  one  time  —  this  seems  to  have  resembled  the  mitrailleuse 
and  the  Catling  gun.  A  machine  that  Peter  the  Great  used  in  measur- 
ing roads  is  here ;  but  one  of  the  greatest  curiosities  is  the  stool  of  the 
great  robber  chief  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  By  its  side  stands  his  s^ick, 


192  STILL   EXPLORING   ST.   PETERSBURG. 

studded  with  brass  nails.  He  sat  on  this  stool,  and  had  eight  pistols, 
which  are  placed  around  it  still.  There  he  pronounced  his  judgments, 
executing  them  forthwith  either  with  the  stick  or  the  pistols. 

Another  curiosity  is  the  standard  of  the  Streltsi  troops.  These 
troops  were  established  by  John  the  Terrible,  and  were  a  kind  of  Prae- 
torian Band.  It  was  chiefly  by  their  means  that  John  the  Terrible  cap- 
tured the  Tartar  Kingdom,  and  subjugated  Kazan.  The  flag  consists 
"of  the  representation  of  God  the  Father  holding  the  last  judgment. 
Over  his  head  is  the  azure  sky  of  Paradise ;  beneath  him  blazes  the 
flames  of  the  infernal  gulf.  At  his  right  hand  stand  the  just,  that  is,  a 
company  of  Russian  priests,  some  of  the  Streltsi,  and  a  number  of  ordi- 
nary bearded  Russians ;  to  his  left  the  unbelievers,  that  is,  a  tribe  of 
Jews,  Turks,  Tartars,  and  Negroes,  and  another  crowd  of  Germans." 
Under  each  group  the  name  is  inscribed,  as  Turk,  German,  etc. 
"  Many  angels,  armed  with  iron  rods,  are  busy  in  delivering  the  rest  of 
the  unbelievers  and  shrieking  Jews  and  Mohammedans  and  other  infidels 
to  the  custody  of  the  devils." 

We  now  proceed  to  Peter  the  Great's  cottage.  This  little  building  is 
fifty-five  feet  long  and  twenty-five  feet  wide,  and  consists  of  two  rooms 
and  a  kitchen.  On  the  left  was  Peter's  bedroom  and  dining-room,  which 
is  now  used  as  a  chapel.  In  it  is  suspended  a  miraculous  image  of  the 
Saviour,  which  Peter  had  carried  with  him  in  his  battles.  It  was  at  Pol- 
tava. Devotees  were  constantly  coming  and  going.  I  stood  and  saw 
hundreds  of  apparently  the  most  respectable  Russians,  besides  multitudes 
of  the  common  people,  coming  and  going,  kissing  the  image,  and  depos- 
iting large  sums.  So  valuable  are  these  gifts  that  about  twenty-one  years 
ago  the  two  guardians  of  the  house  were  murdered  by  a  soldier  who 
robbed  the  concern  of  the  donation-box. 

This  is  the  first  house  built  by  Peter  here  in  1703.  He  lived  in  it 
while  superintending  the  buHding  of  the  city.  It  is  on  the  same  island 
with  the  fortress  previously  described,  and  not  far  from  it.  When  Peter 
erected  it,  he  saw  before  him  rivers,  an  island,  and  a  marsh.  Yet  his  dom- 
inating mind  conceived  the  great  city  which  is  now  there,  and  before  he 


STILL   EXPLORING   ST.   PETERSBURG.  193 

died  —  though  he,  died  at  the  early  age  of  fifty-seven  —  it  had  assumed  the 
appearance  of  a  modern  capital.  I  was  much  more  interested,  however,  in 
the  relics  of  Peter.  There  is  a  boat  which  he  built  with  his  own  hands. 
Fragments  of  its  sails  are  there,  and  the  bench  on  which  he  sat  at  the 
door  looking  at  the  workmen.  To  preserve  the  building  from  decay  it 
has  been  entirely  covered  with  a  casing. 

Peter  was  a  man  of  immense  intellectual  and  physical  resources. 
I  believe  him  to  be  as  worthy  the  title  of  "  the  Great  "  as  Alexander, 
Caesar,  Frederick  or  Napoleon,  or  any  man  who  ever  lived.  He  was  6 
great  barbarian,  but  he  made  great  strides  towards  civilization,  and  so 
strong  was  he  that  he  dragged  the  Russian  people  against  their  will  with 
him  further  and  faster  than  they  had  gone  for  several  centuries,  or  would 
have  gone  without  him  in  as  many  more. 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

ST.    PETERSBURG    AND    VICINITY. 

THE  Historical  Museum  of  Imperial  Carriages  consists  of  two 
stories,  the  lower  containing  the  travelling  and  town  court  car- 
riages, and  the  upper,  the  State  carriages  of  the  successive  sovereigns  of 
Russia.  There  is  nothing  of  the  kind  equal  to  this  Museum,  in  Europe. 
The  walls  are  covered  with  magnificent  Gobelin  Tapestry,  the  most 
beautiful  being  that  which  represents  the  view  which  Constantine  the 
Great  had  of  the  Cross. 

Among  the  many  carriages  is  that  presented  by  Frederick  the  Great 
to  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  the  carriage  in  which  the  Princess  Dagmar 
rode  on  the  occasion  of  her  marriage  to  the  Emperor  Alexander,  and  the 
great  carriage  of  Catherine  II.  These  are  painted,  gilded,  carved  and 
jewelled. 

An  object  of  greatest  interest  is  the  sledge  in  which  Peter  the  Great 
used  to  ride,  and  which  he  made  with  his  own  hands.  The  windows  are 
of  mica.  Peter  travelled  in  this  sledge  all  the  way  to  Archangel,  but  did 
not  have  snow  enough  to  come  back  in  it,  and  had  to  return  on  wheels ; 
so  the  sledge  was  left  there  till  the  time  of  Alexander  I.  It  is  kept  in  a 
glass  case.  The  trunk  which  contained  his  provisions  and  clothes  is 
still  in  its  old  place. 

One  carriage  surpasses  all  others  in  painful  interest.  It  was  that  in 
which  Alexander  II.  rode  when  he  was  assassinated.  Precisely  as  it  was 
left  after  that  dreadful  event,  it  remains  with  the  seat,  sides,  and  back 
torn  by  the  violence  of  the  explosion. 

The  spot  where  Alexander  II.  was  assassinated  attracts  great  attention. 
A  chapel  now  stands  there,  and  a  magnificent  church  is  being  erected  on 
the  very  place.  Under  the  guidance  of  a  person  who  arrived  upon  the 

194 


ST.   PETERSBURG   AND   VICINITY.  197 

scene  ten  minutes  after  the  event  occurred,  I  walked  from  the  avenue 
along  which  the  Emperor  rode  to  the  exact  site  of  the  murder. 

The  causes  which  led  to  this  event,  I  shall  treat  in  the  chapters  on 
Nihilism.  It  was  not  the  first  recent  attempt  to  destroy  the  Emperor. 
In  April,  1879,  Soloveff  shot  at  him.  Great  excitement  was  produced  by 
the  repressive  measures  subsequently  adopted.  During  the  month  of 
May,  1879,  there  were  seventeen  thousand  three  hundred  conflagrations 
in  Russia,  most  of  them  supposed  to  be  caused  by  incendiaries.  The 
railroad  was  blown  up,  the  Winter  Palace  was  undermined. 

The  most  accurate,  and  at  the  same  time  vivid,  description  I  have 
seen  of  the  assassination  is  in  Rambaud's  Popular  History  of  Russia, 
which  relates  the  following  facts  : 

"  On  the  thirteenth  of  March,  1881,  Alexander  attended  a  review,  and 
afterwards  took  coffee  at  the  Mikhailovski  Palace  with  his  sister,  the 
Princess  Alexandra.  On  his  return,  as  he  was  driving  along  the  lekater- 
inovski  Canal,  an  Orsini  bomb  was  thrown,  which  exploded  and  tore  off 
a  part  of  the  carriage.  The  Emperor  alighted  unhurt  and  approached 
the  assassin,  who  had  been  seized  by  two  marines  and  the  chief  of  police, 
Colonel  Dvorzhetski.  At  this  instant  another  bomb  was  thrown  by  an 
accomplice.  It  burst,  and  shattered  the  Emperor's  legs,  killed  the  man 
who  threw  it,  and  a  small  boy  who  was  passing,  and  injured  a  large  num- 
ber of  bystanders.  Colonel  Dvorzhetski  was  wounded  in  sixty  places. 
The  Emperor,  exclaiming  '  Help  me  ! '  fell  to  the  ground  and  was  imme- 
diately driven  to  the  Winter  Palace,  where  he  died  in  the  middle  of  the 
afternoon.  The  excitement  was  intense,  and  was  by  no  means  dimin- 
ished by  the  discovery  of  a  mine  on  Little  Garden  street,  containing 
more  than  thirty-two  kilograms  of  dynamite,  connected  with  a  basement 
leading  from  an  ostensible  milk  and  cheese  shop." 

The  Executive  Committee  of  the  Nihilists,  in  spite  of  all  the  efforts  of 
the  police  to  suppress  them,  posted  in  a  conspicuous  place,  this  procla- 
mation : 

The  Executive  Committee  consider  it  necessary  once  more  to  announce  to  all  the  world  that 
it  repeatedly  warned  the  tyrant  now  assassinated,  repeatedly  advised  him  to  put  an  end  to  his 


198  ST.   PETERSBURG   AND   VICINITY. 

homicidal  obstinacy  and  to  restore  to  Russia  its  natural  rights.  Every  one  knows  that  the 
tyrant  paid  no  attention  to  these  warnings  and  pursued  his  former  policy.  Reprisals  continued. 
The  Executive  Committee  never  drop  their  weapons.  They  resolved  to  execute  the  despot  at 
whatever  cost.  On  the  first  of  March  this  was  done. 

We  address  ourselves  to  the  newly  crowned  Alexander  III.,  reminding  him  that  he  must 
be  just.  Russia,  exhausted  by  famine,  worn  out  by  the  arbitrary  proceedings  of  the  admin- 
istration, continually  losing  its  sons  on  the  gallows,  in  the  mines,  in  exile,  or  in  wearisome 
inactivity  caused  by  the  present  regime, —  Russia  cannot  longer  live  thus.  She  demands  lib- 
erty. She  must  live  in  conformity  with  her  demands,  her  wishes,  and  her  will.  We  remind 
Alexander  III.  that  every  violator  of  the  will  of  the  people  is  the  nation's  enemy  and  tyrant. 
The  death  of  Alexander  II.  shows  the  vengeance  which  follows  such  acts. 

The  apparent  apathy,  or  self-control  as  the  case  may  be,  of  many  of 
the  Russian  people  is  well  illustrated  by  the  following  circumstance  re- 
lated to  me  by  a  foreign  resident  of  St.  Petersburg,  who  is  engaged  in 
a  large  business.  On  the  morning  after  the  assassination,  when  he 
entered  his  place  of  business,  he  said  to  his  book-keeper  who  was  a 
Russian  :  , 

"  This  is  a  terrible  thing,  the  assassination  of  the  Emperor.  It  will 
alarm  the  world,  and  will  be  likely  to  plunge  Russia  into  dreadful  diffi- 
culties." 

The  book-keeper  looked  up  and  said  laconically,  "  Yes,  this  is  a  bad 
thing,"  and  proceeded  with  his  writing. 

"But,"  said  the  gentleman,  "it  is  a  most  fearful  thing  !  Nothing  of 
the  kind  has  happened  in  my  time." 

The  book-keeper,  who  was  not  a  Nihilist,  exhibited  no  more  interest  in 
the  subject  than  would  have  been  natural  if  a  common  street  fight  had 
occurred  and  was  the  subject  of  conversation.  This  excited  the  mingled 
curiosity  and  indignation  of  his  employer,  who  had  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  there  was  any  want  of  frankness  toward  him ;  but  on  speaking  to  a 
number  of  other  Russians  he  found  the  same  stoical  calmness  and  taci- 
turnity. 

It  may  have  been  the  manifestation  of  the  spirit  of  helplessness  min- 
gled with  fear,  which  results  from  living  under  a  despotism.  But  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  regarded  the  act  with  horror,  as  the  historian 


ST.   PETERSBURG   AND   VICINITY.  199 

already  quoted  shows  in  the  "  naive  account "  of  a  deputation  of  persons 
who  came  to  bring  their  votive  wreaths  to  put  upon  the  Emperor's  bier 
as  he  lay  in  state  in  the  Petropavlovski  Cathedral. 

"The  nearer  we  approached  the  Cathedral,"  said  the  speaker,  "the 
more  our  hearts  sank.  At  last  we  were  inside  the  church.  There  were 
many  generals  assembled  —  thirty,  if  not  more.  They  made  way  for  us. 
We  all  dropped  on  our  knees  and  sobbed  aloud.  We  bowed  our  heads  to 
the  ground,  nor  could  we  restrain  our  tears  ;  they  kept  flowing  like  a 
stream.  O  what  grief  !  We  rose  from  our  knees.  Again  we  knelt,  and 
again  we  sobbed.  This  we  did  three  times.  What  we  felt  all  this  time, 
how  our  hearts  were  aching  beside  the  coffin  of  our  father  and  benefactor, 
there  are  no  words  to  express.  And  what  honor  was  done  us  !  Many 
wreaths  were  lying  on  the  coffin.  General  Rilaief  took  our  wreath  and 
placed  it  straightway  on  the  breast  of  our  Little  Father.  The  other 
wreaths  were  moved  aside.  Our  peasant's  wreath  was  laid  on  his  heart. 
As  during  his  whole  life  we  were  nearest  his  heart,  so  after  his  death  our 
offering  of  thanks  was  laid  on  his  martyr  breast.  This  idea  so  affected  us 
that  we  burst  into  tears.  The  general  allowed  us  to  take  leave  of  the 
Tsar.  We  kissed  his  hand  —  and  there  he  lay,  our  Tsar-martyr,  with  a 
calm  and  loving  expression  on  his  face,  as  if  he,  our  Little  Father,  had 
fallen  asleep." 

The  ensuing  description  of  the  funeral  so  graphically  illustrates  the 
splendor  of  Russian  ceremonials,  that  its  reproduction  will  gratify  the 
reader. 

"  The  funeral  procession,  on  the  nineteenth  of  March,  was  most  im- 
posing. The  route  led  from  the  Winter  Palace  to  the  Petropavlovski 
Cathedral  by  the  Admiralty  and  the  English  Quay,  across  the  Nikolai- 
evski  bridge  into  the  fortress  by  the  Ivanskaia  gate.  The  procession 
had  thirteen  sections,  divided  into  one  hundred  and  seventy-two  groups. 
The  representatives  of  provincial  assemblies,  trade  guilds,  and  the  courts 
of  justice,  of  economic  and  philanthropic  societies,  were  in  full  regalia. 
The  '  bright  and  spotless  character  '  of  the  late  Emperor  was  represented 
by  a  knight  in  golden  armor  on  a  superb  steed  and  carrying  a  drawn 


200  ST.  PETERSBURG   AND   VICINITY. 

sword.  The  standard  of  the  various  districts  of  the  Empire  and  the  im- 
perial emblems  were  carried  by  pages  — the  crowns  of  the  kingdoms,  the  • 
imperial  globe  and  sceptre,  the  four  swords  of  the  empire  reversed,  the 
fifty-seven  foreign  orders  and.  decorations,  and  the  seventeen  Russian 
orders  and  medals,  borne  on  velvet  cushions.  The  funeral  car  was  of 
gilt,  drawn  by  eight  horses.  At  each  corner  sat  one  of  the  late  Tsar's 
aides,  and  the  cords  of  the  pall  were  held  by  sixteen  generals.  Sixty 
liveried  pages  followed  with  burning  torches.  Then  came  on  foot  the 
new  Emperor  in  the  full  uniform  of  the  Preobrazhenski  guard,  and  the 
other  members  of  the  Imperial  family. 

"  On  the  day  of  the  funeral  mass,  March  27,  it  snowed.  The  scene  in 
the  cathedral  was  impressive  in  the  extreme.  The  cathedral  was  dimly 
lighted.  The  silence  was  broken  only  by  the  howling  of  the  storm. 
The  heralds,  dressed  in  black  velvet  with  silver  braid  and  tassels,  the  im- 
perial escutcheon  picked  out  in  dark  embroidery,  with  the  crown 
emblazoned  in  gold  on  their  breasts,  and  holding  in  their  hands  their 
tabards  surmounted  with  the  double-headed  eagle  in  gold,  stood  waiting 
for  the  mass  to  begin.  The  Emperor,  wrapped  in  an  ermine  robe  with 
a  sacred  picture  on  his  breast,  lay  in  state  under  a  baldachin  of  gold  and 
silver  cloth  lined  with  ermine.  The  canopy  reached  to  the  top  of  the 
dome,  and  was  surmounted  by  alternate  rows  of  ostrich  feathers  and  the 
imperial  arms.  Among  the  mourners  were  the  Prince  and  Princess  of 
Wales,  Archduke  Rudolf  of  Austria,  Crown  Prince  of  Germany,  Prince 
Alexander  of  Bulgaria,  the  imperial  family,  and  a  host  of  famous  princes 
and  generals.  First,  the  High  Mass  was  celebrated,  with  beautiful  soft 
music  by  the  choir ;  then  came  masses  for  the  dead,  and  the  Protodeacon 
intoned  a  prayer  for  the  sins,  voluntary  and  involuntary,  of  the  Emperor, 
while  all  the  mourners  held  lighted  candles  in  their  hands.  Afterwards 
the  last  farewells  were  said,  the  silk  standard  was  removed,  and  the  Em- 
peror was  laid  beside  his  Empress.  Then  the  guns  of  the  fortress 
sounded,  and  the  mourning  flag  was  taken  down  and  replaced  by  the 
Imperial  standard." 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

INTO    THE    HEART    OF    RUSSIA. 

AT  the  time  of  the  Crimean  War,  1853-56,  in  all  its  vast  domain 
European  Russia  had  less  than  eight  hundred  miles  of  railway. 
Now  it  has  nearly  fourteen  thousand.  If  it  had  possessed  even  ten 
thousand  miles  of  railway  in  1854,  the  Crimean  War  would  have  been 
terminated  by  the  defeat  of  the  allies,  or  would  have  continued  as  many 
years  as  it  did  months,  before  Russia  would  have  been  forced  to  sur- 
render. For  then  it  was  compelled  to  .convey  its  troops  and  everything 
necessary  for  their  support,  as  well  as  most  of  the  munitions  of  war, 
immense  distances  by  the  slowest  and  rudest  means  of  transportation. 
Of  that  less  than  eight  hundred  miles  of  railway  more  than  four  hundred 
constituted  the  line  connecting  St.  Petersburg,  the  modern,  with  Mos- 
cow, the  ancient  and  genuine  Russian  capital.  At  the  present  time 
there  are  through  connections,  by  first-class  carriages,  from  St.  Peters- 
burg to  Berlin,  and  from  Moscow  to  Central  Europe.  Indeed,  one 
could  go  thus  to  Sabastopol,  Odessa,  and  to  the  southern  extremity  of 
the  Empire. 

The  carriages  on  these  lines  are  as  good  as  in  any  part  of  Europe, 
though  the  speed  is  not  very  great.  On  many  of  the  roads  fifteen  to 
eighteen  miles  an  hour  is  the  average,  and  thirty  miles  the  highest 
attainment  of  express  lines.  The  companies  can  generally  be  relied 
upon  to  comply  with  the  schedule.  Stations  along  the  line  are  numer- 
ous, and  the  stops  frequent.  A  splendid  supply  of  good  food,  and  tea 
unsurpassed  in  the  world,  can  be  obtained  at  the  buffets  on  the  principal 
lines.  A  traveller,  in  defending  the  slowness  of  the  speed,  says  :  "  The 
English  and  Americans  must  remember  that  Russians  are  rarely  in  a 
hurry,  and  like  to  have  frequent  opportunities  of  eating  and  drinking. 

201 


202  INTO   THE   HEART   OF    RUSSIA. 

In  Russia  time  is  not  money ;  if  it  were,  nearly  all  the  subjects  of  the 
Tsar  would  have  a  Jarge  stock  of  ready  money  on  hand,  and  would  often 
have  great  difficulty  in  spending  it." 

The  railway  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Moscow  is  probably  the  straight- 
est  line  in  the  world.  It  was  built  as  the  crow  flies,  pays  no  attention 
to  towns,  and  sets  out  the  passengers  who  are  going  to  particular  places 
at  railway  stations  surrounded  by  fields.  On  inquiry,  the  unfortunate 
wight  finds  that  the  station  may  be  several  miles  from  the  town,  which 
he  must  reach  on  foot,  in  wagons,  or  stages,  according  to  the  accommo- 
dation. The  explanation  of  this  peculiarity  is  of  considerable  historic 
interest,  and  reflects  much  light  on  the  arbitrary  methods  prevailing  in 
Russia.  The  only  reason  why  this  railroad  ignores  every  town  between 
St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow,  except  one  small  place  called  Tver,  which 
happened  to  be  near  the  straight  line,  is  that  "the  Tsar  so  ordered  it." 

Here  is  the  history:  "When  the  preliminary  survey  was  being  made, 
Nicholas,  learning  that  the  officers  intrusted  with  the  task  —  and  the 
Minister  of  Ways  and  Roads  in  the  number  —  were  being  influenced  by 
personal,  rather  than  by  technical,  considerations,  determined  to  cut  the 
Gordian  knot  in  a  true  imperial  style.  When  the  minister  laid  before 
him  the  map  with  the  intention  of  explaining  the  intended  route,  he 
took  a  rule,  and  drew  a  straight  line  from  the  one  terminus  to  the  other, 
and  remarked  in  a  tone  that  precluded  all  discussion,  "  You  will  con- 
struct the  line  so" 

Formerly  the  road  was  ridiculed,  and  cited  to  show  the  evils  of  a 
despotic  form  of  government,  but  public  opinion  has  undergone  a  change. 
It  is  considered  that  great  advantages  occur  to  Russia,  as  a  whole,  through 
the  shortness  of  this  line,  and  that  though  the  towns  have  suffered  a 
great  deal,  the  construction  of  branch  lines  to  such  as  need  them  will, 
in  the  end,  remedy  the  difficulty,  while  the  great  benefits  of  being  able 
to  carry  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  goods  and  passengers  that  go  the 
whole  length  of  the  line  in  a  shorter  time  will  remain. 

I  was  informed  that  some  of  the  contractors  on  this  road,  not  taking 
the  pains  to  thoroughly  investigate  the  conditions  of  the  soil  over  which 


INTO   THE   HEART  OF   RUSSIA.  203 

Nicholas's  straight  line  had  to  be  built,  were  ruined,  and  others,  if  not 
ruined,  were  seriously  embarrassed  by  the  vast  expenditure  required  in 
marshy  places. 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  the  legislation  concerning  rail- 
roads in  Russia  and  in  England  and  the  United  States.  That  differ- 
ence is  stated  by  an  authority  whose  treatment  of  the  subject  I  con- 
dense :  In  other  countries  individuals  and  chartered  companies  act 
according  to  their  interests.  The  State  will  not  interfere,  unless  it  can 
be  proved  that  very  serious  consequences  will  follow.  In  Russia  the 
exact  opposite  is  the  case.  Companies  and  individuals  are  allowed  to 
do  nothing  at  all  until  they  give  satisfactory  guarantees  against  all  pos- 
sible evils.  When  any  enterprise  is  proposed  in  Russia,  the  military 
authorities  are  always  consulted,  and  the  first  question  is,  How  will  this 
new  railroad  affect  the  interest  of  the  State  ?  From  this  it  follows  that 
the  railway  map  of  Russia  is  to  be  interpreted  fully  as  much  by  military 
tactics  as  by  commercial  or  social  interests. 

Much  vigilance  is  requisite  to  get  comfortable  accommodations  on  a 
Russian  railway.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  purchasing  one's  ticket  a 
long  while  in  advance,  and  getting  on  the  train  as  soon  as  the  ticket  is 
bought.  The  door  is  not  opened  until  a  certain  time.  Those  who  are 
prepared  rush  through  as  rapidly  as  they  can,  take  possession  of  all  the 
seats  in  their  vicinity,  and  cover  them  with  bags,  valises,  umbrellas, 
bundles,  so  that  those  who  come  two  or  three  minutes  later,  looking  in 
the  car,  will  think  there  is  no  room.  If,  however,  the  guard  is  called, 
he  will  soon  find  seats  for  a  much  larger  number  than  a  first  glance 
would  suppose  it  possible  to  accommodate.  Travelling  as  we  did,  with 
couriers  who  spoke  Russian,  English,  and  German,  and  in  some  in- 
stances French,  we  found  that  there  were  ways  of  evading  the  strict 
regulations,  of  which  most  travellers  who  are  acquainted  with  them  take 
advantage.  The  dignified  guards,  dressed  in  uniform,  many  of  them 
venerable  in  appearance,  and  having  the  aspect  of  distinguished  military 
commanders,  were  not  above  taking  a  ruble  and  practising  the  most 
open  partiality  toward  the  persons  who  rewarded  them.  In  fact,  it 


204  INTO   THE   HEART   OF   RUSSIA. 

appeared  to  be  a  general  custom  to  give  fees,  and  the  larger  the  fee  the 
more  the  attention  received. 

Another  peculiar  custom  soon  appeared.  On  every  ticket  two  sums 
were  stated.  For  instance,  if  the  price  of  the  ticket  would  show  thir- 
teen and  three,  the  price  of  the  ticket  would  be  sixteen  rubles ;  the 
explanation  of  which  is  that  the  three  rubles  is  a  special  tax  placed  by 
the  Government  upon  the  railway  travellers  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the 
last  Turkish  war.  These  Russian  taxes  pursue  the  citizen  or  traveller  at 
every  turn.  If  he  stays  at  home  he  is  taxed,  if  he  undertakes  to  go 
away  he  is  taxed ;  and  if,  having  been  away,  he  goes  home,  he  is  taxed. 
Thus  I,  having  no  interest  in  the  war  between  Russia  and  Turkey, 
was  compelled  to  pay  for  myself  and  my  son  while  travelling  in  Russia, 
above  thirty  dollars  to  the  expenses  of  the  last  war. 

It  was  at  once  obvious  that  we  were  in  a  region  where  the  English 
language  is  less  spoken  by  the  ordinary  population  than  in  any  part  of 
Western  or  Central  Europe.  Printed  instructions  to  travellers  were  in 
three  different  languages  :  Swedish,  Russian  and  German,  Occasionally 
a  notice  in  French  was  added,  but  very  seldom.  One  heard  German  and 
French  now  and  then,  but  most  of  the  people  spoke  Russian.  Many  of 
the  women  in  the  first  and  second-class  cars  were  of  striking  personal 
appearance.  Some  were  very  tall,  others  were,  petite.  In  the  third-class 
cars  were  many  Tartars,  and  many  women  with  coarse  features.  Russian 
gentlemen  are  not  noticeably  unrefined  in  appearance,  and  many  of  them 
have  the  air  of  successful  bankers  or  merchants. 

The  habit  of  smoking  cigarettes  is  common  among  the  women  of  Rus- 
sia, and  on  this  tour  we  saw  several  ladies  travelling  first  or  second-class 
with  their  children  and  governesses,  who  at  every  station  smoked  cigar- 
ettes. One  lady  in  particular,  having  two  small  children,  promenaded 
the  platform,  smoking  at  every  station,  entirely  unconscious  that  there 
was  anything  unusual  or  striking  in  the  performance,  as,  indeed,  there 
was  not  to  Russian  eyes. 

Much  of  the  tea  drunk  in  Russia  is  brought  overland  from  China.  It 
was  long  believed  that  sea-borne  tea  was  not  equal  to  oveiiand.  Improved 


INTO   THE    HEART   OF   RUSSIA.  205 

methods  have  diminished  the  difference.  At  the  buffets  tea  was  served 
in  genuine  Russian  style,  in  tumblers,  with  sugar  and  lemon,  without 
milk.  These  tumblers,  filled  with  a  decoction  of  tea  of  great  strength, 
about  an  inch  in  depth,  were  placed  on  the  tables.  As  the  traveller 
arrived,  boiling  water  was  poured  from  the  "samovar  "  into  the  tumbler, 
and  a  slice  of  lemon  placed  upon  the  top.  Never  did  tea  have  a  more 
exquisite  flavor. 

The  samovar  is  a  copper  urn  used  in  Russia  for  making  tea.  It  is 
filled  with  water  heated  by  charcoal  placed  in  a  pipe  with  a  chimney 
attached,  which  passes  through  the  urn.  An  English  writer  made  a 
comical  mistake  in  praising  the  tea  which  he  had  drank  in  Russia.  He 
says,  "  The  Russians  have  a  very  peculiar  and  excellent  tea  called  Samo- 
var, which  all  classes  drink." 

It  was  amusing  to  see  some  of  the  Russians,  who,  instead  of  placing 
the  lumps  of  sugar  in  the  tea,  placed  a  lump  between  the  teeth,  and 
held  it  there  as  the  tea  passed  over  it.  Excellent  as  the  tea  was,  I 
perceived  while  in  Russia  that  the  constant  drinking  of  it  rendered 
necessary  by  the  uncertainty  of  water,  and  the  rapid  change  of  place, 
had  an  effect  similar  to  that  of  alum  upon  the  lips,  gums,  and  mouth. 
The  tannin  in  it  was  plainly  the  cause.  Others  whom  I  met  and  with 
whom  I  travelled  perceived  the  same  effect,  which  always  disappeared 
when  Apollinaris  water  or  any  other  fluid  was  substituted  for  tea.  A 
Russian  informed  me  that  the  effect  would  pass  away,  or  not  be  noticed, 
in  a  few  weeks. 

Wallace,  speaking  of  strong  tea,  says  :  "  The  tumbler,  you  know,  is  to 
be  used  as  a  cup,  and  when  filled  may  be  conveniently  employed  for 
cauterizing  the  points  of  your  fingers." 

We  had  not  taken  the  most  rapid  train,  which  ran  almost  exclusively 
in  the  night,  but  one  which  would  admit  of  our  travelling  by  daylight 
eight  out  of  the  fifteen  hours  required  for  the  journey,  during  which  time 
I  was  engaged  in  observing  the  scenery  and  identifying  different  historic 
points.  Owing  to  the  avoidance  of  towns  by  the  line  of  the  road,  the 
view  was  chiefly  one  of  fields  and  morasses,  rarely  relieving  the  eye  by 


206  INTO   THE    HEART   OF    RUSSIA. 

the  sight  of  a  town,  a  village,  or  even  a  human  habitation,  except  at  or 
near  the  stations. 

Taking  a  suggestion  from  the  famous  chapter  on  snakes  in  Ireland, 
the  whole  of  which  was,  "  There  are  no  snakes  in  Ireland,"  one  might 
write  a  chapter  on  mountains  in  European  Russia,  and,  with  the  exclusion 
of  certain  remote  parts,  he  could  say,  "  There  are  no  mountains  in 
Russia." 

With  the  exception  of  the  Caucasus  range  on  the  south,  and  the 
Ural  on  the  east,  the  only  part  of  its  surface  that  attains  a  height  of  over 
one  thousand  feet,  is  the  little  roof  of  the  Valdai  Hills,  at  the  head  of 
the  Volga. 

Keith  Johnson,  in  the  London  Geography,  says :  "  The  main  divis- 
ions of  its  landscape  are  the  frozen  treeless  tundras  of  its  Arctic  coast 
lands  ;  the  immense  central  forest  region,  the  cultivated  parts  which 
supply  Europe  with  grain  ;  and  the  treeless  steppes  which  lay  across 
the  south  of  the  plain,  from  the  saline  borders  of  the  Northern  Caspian 
toward  Roumania  on  the  west." 

The  Russians  measure  distances  by  versts,  and  the  line  from  St. 
Petersburg  to  Moscow  is  six  hundred  and  four  versts,  or  four  hundred 
and  three  English  miles,  in  length.  When  we  had  travelled  one  hundred 
and  eleven  versts  we  came  to  the  point  where,  if  we  had  been  able  to 
visit  Novgorod  the  Great,  we  would  have  changed  cars.  This  was  the 
head  of  the  Russian  Empire,  for  the  Rurik  dynasty  first  settled  there  in 
862.  It  rose  to  such  power  that  it  was  a  proverb  through  all  Eastern 
Europe,  "Who  can  resist  God  and  the  Great  Novgorod?"  The  city 
was  once  large  enough  to  cover  an  area  of  forty  miles  in  circumference. 
The  first  Russian  money  ever  made  was  coined  there,  about  four  hundred 
and  fifty  years  ago. 

At  the  same  point  we  crossed  the  Volkhof  River,  which  flows  from 
Lake  Ilman  into  Lake  Ladoga.  When  we  had  passed  one  hundred  and 
fifty-two  versts  we  came  to  an  immense  iron  bridge,  which  crossed  a 
ravine  one  hundred  and  ninety  feet  deep.  This  bridge  was  built  by 
American  contractors,  and  on  American  principles  —  indeed,  American 


INTO   THE   HEART   OF   RUSSIA.  207 

contractors  built  this  whole  line  of  railway.  Finally  we  came  within 
sight  of  the  Valdai  Hills,  to  which  I  referred  as  the  highest,  with  cer- 
tain exceptions,  in  Russia,  though  they  are  not  much  higher  than  the 
Palisades  on  the  Hudson  River  ;  but  in  them  rise  the  rivers  Dvina, 
Volga,  and  Voikhoi. 

At  a  place  called  Vyshni-Volochok,  we  obtained  a  glance  of  a  canal 
that  begins  here  and  joins  several  rivers  and  lakes,  so  uniting  the  great 
rivers  Volga  and  Neva  as  to  bring  about  navigable  connection  between 
the  Baltic  and  the  Caspian  seas. 

When  we  had  made  about  three  fourths  of  the  way  to  Moscow  the 
train  crossed  the  Volga.  This  is  one  of  the  great  rivers  of  the  world. 
From  the  point  where  we  crossed  it  it  is  navigable,  without  a  break,  for 
two  thousand  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  A  regular  line  of  steamers 
runs  to  Astrakhan. 

Fourteen  miles  from  the  line  of  the  road,  at  a  town  three  hundred  and 
seventy-nine  miles  from  St.  Petersburg,  stands  the  monastery  of  New 
Jerusalem,  founded  by  the  most  celebrated  Patriarch  in  the  history  of 
the  Russo-Greek  Church  —  Nicon.  At  this  spot  he  built  a  church,  con- 
secrated by  Tsar  Alexis,  and  named  the  New  Jerusalem.  Nicon  un- 
dertook to  imitate  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  at  Jerusalem. 
The  River  Istra  he  called  the  Jordan.  He  had  a  brook  dug,  and  named 
it  the  Kedron.  He  called  a  village  in  the  neighborhood  Nazareth.  But 
he  became  too  great  a  power,  and  the  Tsar  withdrew  his  countenance. 
As  he  refused  to  come  to  the  cathedral  to  hear  Nicon  preach  on  an  im- 
portant occasion,  the  Patriarch,  who  supposed  he  could  bring  him  to 
terms,  threw  off  his  Episcopal  robes,  resigned  his  crozier,  and,  attiring 
himself  in  the  habit  of  a  monk,  withdrew  to  this  place ;  but  the  Tsar 
never  asked  his  forgiveness.  A  Council  of  the  Eastern  Patriarchs  was 
called  at  Moscow.  Nicon  was  degraded  and  banished. 

At  last  Moscow  appeared  upon  the  plains  —  a  forest  of  gilded  spires 
'and  colored  domes  and  cupolas. 

Expecting  to  remain  there  some  weeks,  and  wishing  to  see  the  best 
Russian  society  to  which  access  could  be  obtained  without  special  intro- 


208  INTO   THE    HEART   OF   RUSSIA. 

duction,  to  have  an  opportunity  to  observe  the  manners  of  the  better 
classes,  and  to  come  into  contact  with  that  subtle  thing  which  can  be 
discerned  even  through  the  veil  of  a  foreign  language  —  the  spirit  of 
the  people  —  and  also  because  I  hoped  to  secure  a  very  noted  courier 
for  the  entire  residue  of  our  journey  through  Russia,  I  went  to  the  most 
famous  hotel  —  the  Slavianski  Bazaar. 

The  rest  of  the  day  was  occupied  in  getting  settled  and  walking  about 
the  streets  of  the  city,  which  I  found  to  be  by  far  the  most  interesting 
I  had  ever  visited,  with  the  exception  of  London  ;  though  Moscow  is 
wholly  unlike  the  English  capital. 


CHAPTER    XXIII. 

HOLY    MOSCOW. 

SUBSEQUENTLY  I  obtained  views  of  Moscow,  which  were  much 
finer  than  that*  seen  from  the  railway  on  approaching  the  city. 
At  this  point  I  will  say  only  that  if  I  had  not  known  where  I  was,  the 
impression  would  have  been  made  that  some  extraordinary  city  unlike 
anything  previously  seen,  was  before  me,  and  the  ride  from  the  cars  to 
the  Slavianski  Bazaar  would  have  excited  intense  curiosity. 

The  number  of  manufacturing  establishments  in  Moscow  is  large. 
The  workmen  employed  in  them  number  at  least  sixty  thousand  men. 
There  are  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  cotton,  over  fifty  woollen,  more 
than  thirty  silk,  and  nearly  sixty  spinning  mills  and  dyeing  works. 

The  city  stands -upon  avast  plain,  through  which  runs  the  Moskva, 
the  river  from  which  the  city  takes  its  name.  This  river  rises  to  the 
south,  in  the  swampy  region  in  the  province  of  Smolensk.  Moscow  is 
built  upon  both  sides  of  it.  In  certain  parts  of  the  city  it  has  a  very 
serpentine  course,  and  finally  flows  under  the  battlements  of  the  Krem- 
lin, passing  on  through  the  plain  until  it  unites  with  the  Oka,  a  large 
river,  of  which  I  will  have  much  to  say  in  the  description  of  other  parts 
of  Russia.  The  larger  part  of  the  city  is  on  the  north  side  of  the 
Moskva. 

The  barriers  of  the  city  are  upward  of  twenty  miles  long,  though  the 
city  is  neither  square  nor  round,  but  is  a  quadrilateral,  no  two  of  whose 
sides  are  parallel  to  each  other.  Around  it  run  two  boulevards,  which 
occupy  the  site  of  the  ancient  fortifications.  On  the  north  side  the 
city  extends  entirely  to  the  earthen  ramparts.  Elsewhere  there  is  a 
vast  amount  of  unoccupied  space  between  the  ramparts  and  the  outer 
boulevard.  There  is  not  a  straight  street  in  Moscow.  A  sufficient 

209 


210  HOLY    MOSCOW. 

number  of  hills  exists  to  cause  the  streets  to  undulate  and  to  give 
extended  views.  In  the  centre  of  the  city  stands  the  renowned  Krem- 
lin, which  is  in  the  shape  of  a  triangle.  On  the  east  is  the  Chinese 
city,  surrounded  by  towers  and  buttresses.  The  hotel  at  which  I  stayed 
is  in  that  quarter.  The  Russian  expression  for  Chinese  city  is  Kitai- 
Gorod. 

At  the  present  time  the  population  of  Moscow  is  about  as  great  as 
that  of  St.  Petersburg,  and  it  is  growing  much  more  rapidly.  It  is  the 
centre  of  the  railway  system  of  the  whole  empire.  It  has  direct  con- 
nections and  carries  on  a  large  trade  with  the  different  parts  of  the 
Baltic,  both  in  Germany  and  Russia,  and  also  with  Odessa  ;  and  Odessa 
has  now  direct  water  connection  with  China  and  India  by  means  of  the 
Suez  Canal.  Also  there  is  the  great  eastern  highway  to  Siberia,  which 
passes  from  Moscow  to  Kazan  on  the  Volga,  and  crosses  the  Ural  at 
the  fortified  mining  town  Ekaterinburg.  The  great  southeastern  routes 
cross  the  Volga  at  Samara  and  Saratov,  and  go  by  Orenburg  into  South- 
ern Asia.  Also  Moscow  has  direct  trade  with  Persia,  passing  over  the 
line  of  railway  t6  the  Volga,  and  hence  through  Astrakhan  and  the  Cas- 
pian. It  is,  as  the  Russians  fondly  call  it,  the  Heart  of  the  Empire. 

Some  things  about  the  history  of  Moscow  the  visitor  must  know  to 
comprehend  what  he  sees,  nor  can  he  intelligibly  describe  to  others  any 
thing  of  importance  without  presenting  these  historic  facts  in  outline. 
For.  Moscow  is  to  the  Russians  what  Jerusalem  is  to  the  Jews — almost 
what  Mecca  is  to  the  Mohammedans. 

The  city  was  founded  about  seven  centuries  and  a  half  ago.  By  the 
fourteenth  century  it  had  become  the  capital  of  Muscovy,  superseding 
Vladimir,  which  in  its  turn  had  superseded  Keif.  Tamerlane,  the  great 
Tartar  warrior  and  statesman,  came  against  it  toward  the  close  of  the 
fourteenth  century  and  afterward  it  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Tartars, 
who  sacked  it  and  slew  many  of  the  inhabitants.  In  those  days  the 
houses  were  almost  all  built  of  wood,  and  in  1536  the  city  was  nearly 
destroyed  by  fire,  and  several  thousand  of  the  inhabitants  perished  in  the 
flames.  Just  thirty-six  years  after  that  the  Tartars  set  the  suburbs  on 


HOLY    MOSCOW.  213 

fire,  and  at  that  time  a  large  part  of  the  city  was  burned,  and  the  num- 
ber of  those  who  were  consumed  or  killed  by  the  invaders  amounted  to 
nearly  one  hundred  thousand.  Only  thirty-nine  years  later  it  was  again 
set  on  fire,  and  almost  wholly  destroyed.  One  hundred  and  thirteen 
years  ago  the  population  was  decimated  by  the  plague. 

But  the  most  extraordinary  occurrence  that  ever  took  place  there  — 
indeed  in  any  part  of  the  world  in  modern  times  —  was  the  burning  of 
the  city,  within  the  memory  of  men  yet  living,  in  1812,  to  secure  the 
overthrow  of  Napoleon. 

Reading  the  descriptions  written  by  several  historians  upon  the 
ground,  beholding  the  ruins  that  yet  remain,  and  tracing  the  restorations, 
the  terrible  character  of  the  crisis  becomes  overwhelmingly  apparent,  and 
the  sacrifice  made  by  Russia  to  national  feeling  of  "  this  ancient,  holy, 
and  beautiful  city,  the  idol  of  every  Russian  heart,  her  shrines  to  him 
the  holiest  in  the  empire,  hallowed  by  seven  centuries  of  historical 
associations,"  appears,  indeed,  to  be  one  of  the  most  stupendous  which 
any  nation  ever  made. 

The  people  of  the  city  had  been  deluded  by  the  Governor,  who  had 
been  himself  deceived  into  the  belief  that  the  French  army  would  be 
destroyed  in  a  pitched  battle,  and  would  never  reach  the  city.  But  at  a 
council  of  war  it  was  decided  to  give  it  up.  Six  hundred  cars  were  de- 
spatched to  Vologda  containing  the  records  of  the  courts,  ancient  manu- 
scripts, and  relics  of  the  monasteries.  On  the  night  of  September  i, 
1812,  the  Metropolitan  took  away  the  three  holy  images,  the  virgins  of 
Iberia,  Vladimir,  and  Smolensk.  Then  the  advance  guard  of  the  Rus- 
sian army  went  through  the  city,  followed  by  thousands  of  the  inhabi- 
tants in  solemn  silence.  "  Streets  were  crowded  with  carriages  and 
carts  laden  with  household  goods.  Herds  of  cows,  sheep,  and  goats 
blocked  up  the  way.  The  sick  were  carried  on  the  backs  of  the  strong. 
Mothers  carried  their  infants,  and  tied  those  who  could  walk  to  their 
sides." 

The  last  Russian  troops  went  out  of  the  city  just  as  the  French 
entered.  They  came  upon  the  city  in  three  columns.  A  part  crossed 


214  HOLY    MOSCOW. 

the  River  Moskva  at  the  place  called  the  Sparrow  Hills,  of  which  I  shall 
have  more  to  say.  The  other  came  in  from  the  high  road  from  St. 
Petersburg,  while  the  main  body  came  in  from  the  westerly  side.  On 
the  third  day  Napoleon  made  his  solemn  entry.  But  the  Governor  had 
liberated  the  convicts  from  the  dungeons,  with  instructions  to  burn  the 
city. 

It  has  been  pretended  by  some  recent  writers  that  no  great  destruc- 
tion was  done  by  the  fire.  Whoever  can  hold  such  a  view  either  has  not 
been  in  Moscow:  or  took  no  pains  to  ascertain  what  was  burned,  blown 
up,  and  otherwise  damaged  or  destroyed.  The  first  to  be  set  on  fire 
were  the  dry-salters'  shops  and  oil  stores.  Next  all  the  stores  in  the 
vicinity  of  Murat's  headquarters.  The  French  generals  had  visited  the 
various  carriage-makers'  shops,  and  selected  carriages  for  their  own  use. 
But  these  shops  were  all  fired  at  one  and  the  same  time.  It  is  an  un- 
questioned fact  that  the  city  was  set  on  fire  in  eleven  different  places, 
and  that  the  fire  burned  most  fiercely  for  three  days  and  nights.  Every 
fire-engine  had  been  removed,  and  there  were  no  means  of  putting  out 
the  fire.  Forty-eight  different  incendiaries  were  discovered  and  con- 
victed, and  thirty  of  them  were  made  to  stand  up  against  the  wall  of  a 
monastery  and  were  shot  by  the  French. 

Napoleon  made  all  arrangements  to  remain,  and  established  his  chan- 
cery in  the  Tower  of  Ivan  Veliki,  and  appointed  Lesseps  Chief  of  Police 
of  Moscow.  (This  Lesseps  was  the  father  of  the  famous  builder  of  the 
Suez  Canal,  and  the  projector  of  the  canal  in  Panama,  now  in  process  of 
construction.) 

To  show  how  terrible  was  the  destruction  I  will  quote  two  passages, 
one  from  the  great  Russian  historian,  Karamzin,  a  translation  of  which 
I  found  in  another  book,  and  the  other  from  a  Frenchman,  Labaume. 
Says  Karamzin  :  "  Palaces  and  temples,  monuments  of  art  and  miracles 
of  luxury,  the  remains  of  past  ages,  and  those  which  had  been  the  crea- 
tion of  yesterday,  the  tombs  of  ancestors  and  the  nursery  cradles  of  the 
present  generation,  were  indiscriminately  destroyed  ;  nothing  was  left 
of  Moscow  save  the  remembrance  of  the  city  and  the  deep  resolution 


HOLY   MOSCOW.  215 

of  avenging  its  fate."  Labaume  says:  "The  churches,  covered  with 
iron  and  lead,  were  destroyed,  and  with  them  those  graceful  steeples 
which  we  had  seen  at  night  resplendent  in  the  setting  sun.  The  hospi- 
tals, which  contained  more  than  twenty  thousand  wounded,  soon  began 
to  burn  —  a  harrowing  and  dreadful  spectacle  —  and  almost  all  those 
poor  wretches  perished." 

I  think  most  readers  will  be  gratified  if  I  quote  the  most  graphic 
account  of  Napoleon's  departure.  What  takes  a  hundred  pages  in  some 
histories,  can  here  be  seen  in  a  few  lines.  "  Napoleon  returned  to  the 
Kremlin  from  the  palace  of  Petroffski,  to  which  he  had  retired,  and  tried 
to  negotiate  with  Kutusof,  who  replied  that  no  treaty  could  be  made  so 
long  as  a  foreigner  remained  within  the  frontier.  The  Emperor  then 
replied  that  he  would  forward  a  letter  to  Alexander.  '  I  will  do  that,' 
said  the  Russian  general,  'provided  the  word  peace  is  not  in  the  letter.' 
To  a  third  proposition  Kutusof  replied  that  it  was  not  the  time  to  treat 
or  enter  into  an  armistice,  as  the  Russian  army  was  just  about  to  open 
the  campaign.  At  length,  on  October  19,  after  a  stay  of  thirty-four 
days,  Napoleon  left  Moscow  with  his  army,  consisting  of  one  hundred 
and  twenty  thousand  men  and  five  hundred  and  fifty  pieces  of  cannon,  a 
vast  amount  of  plunder,  and  a  countless  host  of  camp-followers. 

"  And  now  the  picture  of  the  advance  was  destined  to  be  reversed. 
Murat  was  defeated  at  Malo  Yaroslavtts  on  the  twenty-fourth,  and  an 
unsuccessful  stand  was  made  at  Viasma  on  November  3.  On  the  sixth 
a  winter  peculiarly  early  and  severe,  even  for  Russia,  set  in ;  the  ther- 
mometer sank  eighteen  degrees,  the  wind  blew  furiously,  and  the  sol- 
diers, vainly  struggling  with  the  eddying  snow,  which  drove  against  them 
with  the  violence  of  a  whirlwind,  could  no  longer  distinguish  the  road, 
and,  falling  into  the  ditches  by  the  side,  there  found  a  grave.  Others 
crawled  on,  badly  clothed,  with  nothing  to  eat  or  drink,  frost-bitten, 
and  groaning  with  pain.  Discipline  disappeared  ;  the  soldier  no  longer 
obeyed  the  officer;  disbanded,  the  troops  spread  themselves  right  and 
left  in  the  search  of  food,  and,  as  the  horses  fell,  fought  for  their  man- 
gled carcasses,  and  devoured  them  raw.  Many  remained  by  the  bivouac 


2I6  HOLY   MOSCOW. 

fires,  allowing  an  insensibility  to  creep  over  them  which  soon  became 
the  sleep  of  death.  On  November  9  Napoleon  reached  Smolensk,  and 
remained  there  until  the  fifteenth,  when  he  set  out  for  Krasnoe.  From 
this  time  to  the  twenty-sixth  and  twenty-seventh,  when  the  French 
crossed  the  Berezina,  all  was  utter  and  hopeless  confusion  ;  and  in  the 
passage  of  that  river  the  wretched  remnant  of  their  once-powerful  army 
was  nearly  annihilated.  The  exact  extent  of  their  loss  was  never  known, 
but  a  Russian  account  states  that  thirty-six  thousand  bodies  were  found 
in  the  river  alone,  and  burned  after  the  thaw.  On  December  5  Napo- 
leon deserted  the  survivors.  On  the  tenth  he  reached  Warsaw,  and  on 
the  night  of  the  eighteenth  returned  to  the  Tuileries." 

The  army  that  so  well  and  so  disastrously  served  him  was  disposed  of 
as  follows : 

Slain  in  fight 125,000 

Died  from  fatigue,  hunger,  and  severity  of  climate ....     132,000 

Prisoners .  , 193,000 

Of  this  whole  army  only  about  forty  thousand  remained.  Less  than 
two  years  from  that  time  Alexander  I.  had  the  satisfaction  of  marching 
into  Paris  at  the  head  of  his  troops. 

When  the  French  entered  Moscow,  Coblenz  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
French.  Early  in  the  summer  of  1884  I  was  in  Coblenz  and  saw  the 
famous  fountain  there.  This  fountain  was  erected  by  the  French  officer 
in  command  of  Coblenz  in  1812,  who  placed  upon  it  this  ostentatious 
inscription : 

"The  year  1812.  Memorable  for  the  campaign  against  the  Russians. 
Under  the  Prefectorate  of  Jules  Doazan." 

After  the  retreat  of  Napoleon  from  Russia,  the  allies  roused  against 
him.  Soon  the  Russians  were  in  actual  possession  of  Coblenz.  When 
the  Russian  general  came  in  and  saw  the  boasting  inscription,  he  or- 
dered the  following  engraved  beneath  it : 

"Seen  and  approved  by  the  Russian  commandant  of  the  city  of 
Coblenz,  first  of  January,  1814." 

The  immense  satisfaction  with  which  the  Russian  commandant  ordered 


HOLY   MOSCOW.  217 

the  inscription  placed  upon  the  fountain,  can  easily  be  imagined  by  one 
familiar  with  the  Russian  character. 

So  great  was  the  destruction,  though  by  no  means  universal,  that  it 
was  necessary  to  rebuild  with  great  rapidity.  Many  edifices,  and  not  a 
few  private  houses,  were  not  damaged  so  as  not  to  be  capable  of  restora- 
tion. Here  and  there  some  escaped,  while  those  surrounding  them  were 
ruined.  So  that  the  streets  are  much  the  same  as  before.  The  city 
has  rather  the  appearance  of  a  dozen  large  towns  suddenly  transported 
from  distant  quarters,  and  placed  within  the  walls,  than  of  a  city. 

The  first  impression  is  very  perplexing.  Huge  churches,  colossal 
buildings  after  the  same  type  as  those  in  St.  Petersburg,  others  of  a 
purely  Asiatic  type,  can  be  found  in  any  part  of  the  city,  thrown  together 
without  any  special  order. 

One  can  never  tell  what  kind  of  a  street  he  is  in  by  a  consideration 
of  what  he  happens  to  see  before  him.  A  little,  insignificant  street, 
with  poor  and  ugly  buildings,  may  suddenly  open  into  a  wide  avenue,  in 
which  we  behold  "a  large,  magnificent  palace,  with  all  the  pomp  of 
Corinthian  pillars,  wrought-iron  trellis-work,  magnificent  approaches  and 
gateways."  Then  a  road  may  turn  off,  and  the  next  object  will  be  a 
row  of  little  wooden  houses,  such  as  are  found  in  the  back  streets  of 
great  cities,  if  at  all.  Next  may  appear  a  church,  either  small  or  large. 
Again,  one  may  be  walking  in  what  he  may  regard  as  a  fine  street,  when 
suddenly  it  descends,  grows  narrow,  seems  to  lead  into  a  mass  of  small 
houses,  shops,  and  factories.  As  he  is  about  to  decide  to  go  back,  he 
ascends  a  little  hill,  and  finds  himself  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  many 
of  the  most  magnificent  buildings  in  the  city. 

It  is  a  city  of  surprises.  Washington,  the  capital  of  this  country,  has 
long  been  spoken  of  as  the  "City  of  Magnificent  Distances."  But  in 
this  particular  Moscow  takes  the  palm  from  it  or  any  other  city.  In 
most  cities  there  are  what  may  be  called  quarters.  Banks  and  banking- 
houses  are  generally  found  near  each  other  —  merchants  in  the  same 
line  of  business  in  the  same  section  of  the  city ;  but  in  Moscow  one 
may  pass  out  of  a  large  establishment — as,  for  example,  a  banking- 


218  HOLY   MOSCOW. 

house — and  attempt  to  go  to  another  of  equal  rank.  It  requires  a 
rapid  drive  with  a  horse  of  an  hour.  So,  if  he  attempts  to  go  shopping, 
instead  of  finding  except  in  bazaars  a  series  of  stores  dealing  in  the 
same  kind  of  goods,  he  must  travel  from  place  to  place. 

Though  I  had  been  reading  and  making  inquiries  concerning  Moscow 
some  hours  each  day  for  a  long  time,  —  indeed,  when  I  had  been  in  any 
place  that  did  not  require  special  study  for  its  comprehension,  I  had 
devoted  the  time  to  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow  for  several  weeks, — 
still  I  found  it  necessary  before  beginning  the  examination  of  the  city, 
and  during  its  progress,  to  devote  about  six  hours  a  day  to  the  reading 
of  whatever  I  could  obtain  in  order  to  examine  it  intelligently. 

It  is  both  Asiatic  and  European,  ancient  and  modern,  partly  barbaric 
and  partly  enlightened.  In  it  extremes  of  riches  and  poverty,  learning 
and  ignorance,  piety  and  immorality,  beauty  and  ugliness,  are  found 
mingled  in  inextricable  confusion. 


CHAPTER   XXIV. 
HOLY  MOSCOW  (continued). 

THERE  are  but  three  cities  in  the  world  worthy  to  be  compared 
with  Moscow  in  ecclesiastical  interest  —  Jerusalem,  Rome  and 
Constantinople. 

Though  the  most  beautiful  edifice  in  Moscow  is  not  in  the  Kremlin, 
the  fame  of  the  Kremlin  will  lead  most  readers  to  desire  that  it  be  de- 
scribed first. 

The  etymology  of  the  word  Kremlin  is  lost  in  antiquity,  but  it  can  be 
traced  four  hundred  and  thirty  years.  When  it  first  appeared  it  was 
applied  to  the  Acropolis,  occupied  by  the  royal  family,  attendant  clergy, 
and  higher  nobility.  The  walls  of  the  Acropolis  were  originally  of  oak. 
Five  hundred  years  ago  they  were  superseded  by  stone  walls,  made 
necessary  by  Tartar  invasions.  The  introduction  of  artillery  made  them 
no  longer  safe.  The  Tsar  imported  architects  from  Italy  to  erect  great 
fortifications.  These  were  completed  in  the  year  that  Columbus  dis- 
covered America.  One  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  the  whole  Kremlin 
was  ravaged  by  fire,  but  these  walls  escaped. 

The  Kremlin  is  in  the  centre  of  the  city,  and  its  circumference  is  one 
English  mile  and  two  thousand  feet.  Through  the  battlements  there 
are  five  gates.  The  east  gate  is  called  the  Borovitski ;  the  west  gate 
is  called  the  Troitski,  or  Trinity,  Gate ;  this  is  the  gate  through  which 
the  French  entered  the  Kremlin  and  by  which  they  departed  from  it ; 
the  third  gate  is  the  Nikolsky,  or  Nicholas,  Gate.  Above  it  is  hung  the 
miraculous  image  of  St.  Nicholas  of  Mojaisk.  This  image  is  devoutly 
spoken  of  as  the  "dread  of  perjurers  and  the  comforter  of  suffering 
humanity."  In  ancient  times  in  front  of  it  oaths  were  administered  to 

witnesses  in  the  courts. 

219 


220  HOLY    MOSCOW. 

The  tower  was  built  in  1491,  and  has  often  been  destroyed  and  re- 
stored. It  has  had  an  amazing  history.  Napoleon  attempted  to  destroy 
it.  The  explosion  split  the  tower  in  the  middle  as  far  as  the  frame  of 
the  picture  of  St.  Nicholas,  but  neither  the  glass  of  the  picture  nor  that 
of  the  lamp  hanging  before  it  was  injured.  Alexander  I.  put  up  an  in- 
scription stating  that  fact,  over  the  gate. 

The  most  important  gate  is  the  Spaski,  or  Redeemer,  Gate.  It  is 
the  porta  sacra  and  porta  triumpJialis  of  Moscow.  Above  it  hangs  a 
picture  of  the  Redeemer  of  Smolensk.  Every  person  who  passes 
through  that  gate  must  uncover  his  head.  An  individual  neglecting  to 
do  so,  and  seen  by  the  populace,  would  be  subjected  to  very  rough 
usage,  and  would  be  fortunate  if  he  escaped  with  his  life.  There  was  an 
ancient  law  requiring  the  person  who-  forgot  to  do  it  to  bow  fifty  times 
before  the  image.  The  Tsar  invariably  uncovers  his  head  as  he  passes 
through  this  gate.  Public  awe  is  divided  between  reverence  for  the 
picture  and  for  the  Tsar,  reverence  for  the  picture  being  marvelously 
increased  in  the  eyes  of  the  people  by  the  fact  that  to  it  the  Emperor 
must  bow. 

Two  or  three  years  ago  an  Englishman,  with  the  spirit  of  John  Bull, 
refused  to  pay  respect  to  these  traditions,  and  told  his  courier  that  he 
would  certainly  go  through  that  gate,  and  not  take  off  his  hat.  The 
courier  warned  him  that  the  consequences  would  be  very  unpleasant. 
He  persisted,  and  did  it  in  a  conspicuous  manner.  Instantly  a  mob  col- 
lected. The  policeman  who  stood  on  guard  there  dragged  him  in  no 
gentle  manner  to  a  place  of  confinement,  where  he  was  subjected  to 
much  inconvenience,  and  compelled  to  apologize  humbly.  I  think  he 
was  served  justly.  It  was  not  principle,  but  obstinacy,  that  led  him  to 
refuse  to  pay  respect  to  a  custom  so  closely  connected  with  the  history 
and  traditions  of  the  people. 

In  front  of  this  gate  for  several  centuries  criminals  were  executed, 
and  their  last  prayers  were  offered  to  the  image.  Here,  too,  the  Streltsi 
were  executed,  by  order  and  in  the  presence  of  Peter  the  Great. 

Peter  undertook  to  compel  the  Russians  to  shave.     This  was  one  of 


T^PP^* 


HOLY    MOSCOW.  223 

his  whims.  Many  dissenters  refused  to  do  it.  In  1705  he  ordered  all 
the  civil  functionaries  of  the  crown  to  shave,  and  the  chief  governors  of 
the  principal  towns  had  to  appear  before  him  without  whiskers  or  mous- 
taches. He  then  imposed  a  fine  of  fifty  rubles  on  those  who  ventured 
to  disobey  the  Ukase.  After  a  while  a  license  was  issued,  and  those, 
with  the  exception  of  the  clergy,  who  had  the  privilege  of  not  shaving, 
had  to  wear  a  copper  medal.  The  dissenters  who  refused  to  shave,  en 
passing  through  this  gate  had  to  pay  a  fine. 

The  fifth  gate  is  of  no  importance.  I  went  in  and  out  through  these 
gates,  visiting  the  Kremlin,  two  or  three  times  every  day  that  I  was  in 
Moscow. 

The  first  excursion  of  interest  was  the  ascent  of  the  Tower  of  Ivan 
the  Great. 

Ivan  is  the  equivalent  of  John.  This  tower  was  built  in  the  year 
1600,  and  is  three  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  high,  including  the  cross. 
The  original  cross  was  stolen  by  the  French  in  1812,  who  supposed, 
erroneously,  that  it  was  of  immense  value.  It  is  constructed  in  stories. 
Four  have  eight  sides,  and  the  last  is  in  the  shape  of  a  cylinder.  In  the 
basement  is  the  chapel.  In  the  stories  above  there  are  thirty-four  bells 
of  different  sizes.  The  largest  is  called  the  Assumption,  and  weighs  no 
less  than  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  thousand  pounds.  Michell  says : 
"  It  is  five  times  as  heavy  as  the  bell  at  Erfurt." 

Here  is  a  little  chapel  dedicated  to  a  St.  Nicholas  who  is  "  the  patron 
saint  of  all  ladies  who  are  about  to  marry."  Near  the  top  are  two  little 
silver  bells.  On  Easter  night  all  these  bells  are  rung  at  once,  and  the 
effect  is  said  to  be  wonderful. 

To  describe  the  view  from  the  summit  of  this  tower  is  to  describe 
Moscow.  I  would  only  say  that  three  hundred  and  fifty  churches  can 
be  seen,  including  seven  chapels,  fourteen  monasteries,  seven  convents, 
two  hundred  and  thirty-three  parish  churches,  thirty-eight  chapels,  and 
seventeen  chapels  at  cemeteries,  besides  many  private  chapels  and  pub- 
lic buildings  of  all  kinds. 

Most  persons  have  heard  of  the  wonderful  great  bell  at  Moscow. 


224  HOLY    MOSCOW. 

I  have  access  to  a  book  which  gives  the  weight  of  the  principal  of 
the  great  bells  of  that  city.  The  largest  bells  in  the  towers  of  the 
churches  in  this  country  rarely  pass  six  thousand  pounds,  while  very 
large  bells  weigh  only  from  two  thousand  eight  hundred  to  three  thou- 
sand five  hundred  pounds. 

The  first  big  bell  cast  in  Moscow,  three  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago, 
weighed  thirty-six  thousand  pounds.  A  Polish  traveller  saw  a  bell  in 
1611,  of  which  the  clapper  was  moved  by  twenty-four  men.  In  1636 
a  great  bell  was  cast  which  weighed  two  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
thousand  pounds.  The  circumference  of  its  mouth  was  fifty-four  feet, 
and  its  sides  were  two  feet  thick.  In  1 706,  in  a  fire,  it  fell  to  the  ground. 
It  was  re-cast  in  1733.  The  ladies  of  Moscow  threw  their  jewels  and 
their  treasures  into  the  liquid  metal.  This  made  an  imperfection  in  the 
casting,  so  that  a  piece  in  the  side  of  the  bell  was  knocked  out  when  the 
bell  fell  during  another  fire.  It  remained  buried  in  the  ground  until 
1836,  -when  the  Emperor  Nicholas  had  it  set  upon  a  pedestal.  The 
following  are  the  dimensions  of  that  great  bell,  whose  ringing,  one 
would  think,  might  shake  the  earth :  it  weighs  four  hundred  and  forty- 
four  thousand  pounds !  Its  height  is  twenty-six  feet  and  four  inches, 
and  its  circumference  sixty-seven  feet  and  eleven  inches.  The  weight. 
of  the  broken  piece,  which  lies  by  its  side,  is  about  eleven  tons. 

The  great  palace  surpasses,  in  the  grandeur  of  its  interior,  most  if  not 
all  similar  structures  in  Europe.  Passing  between  magnificent  mono- 
liths of  gray  marble,  we  were  conducted  through  the  great  dining-room, 
the  Empress's  drawing-room,  upholstered  with  white  silk  and  gold  mold- 
ings, the  Empress's  cabinet,  upholstered  in  dark  red  silk,  various  bed- 
rooms, dressing  and  bath  rooms  for  the  royal  family,  and  into  the  Em- 
peror's cabinet,  decorated  with  pictures  representing  the  French 
entering  and  leaving  the  city. 

Next  ascending  a  magnificent  granite  staircase,  we  entered  the  door 
of  the  state  apartments,  the  grandest  of  which  is  the  hall  of  St. 
George.  This  is  dedicated  to  the  military  order  founded  by  Catherine 
II.  in  1769.  St.  George,  from  the  earliest  times,  has  been  supposed  to 


HOLY   MOSCOW.  227 

be  a  sure  protection  against  two  foes  of  the  Russian  peasant :  wolves 
and  serpents.  To  this  day  the  peasants  will  not  turn  the  cattle  into  the 
fields  until  April  25  —  St.  George's  Day.  The  hall  is  two  hundred  feet 
long,  sixty-eight  feet  wide,  and  fifty-eight  feet  high.  The  candelabra 
hold  thirty-two  thousand  candles.  Passing  out  of  this,  we  entered  the 
Alexandrian  Hall.  This  is  dedicated  to  another  order,  that  of  St. 
Alexander  Nevski,  founded  in  1725  by  Catherine  II.  It  is  as  wide  as 
the  hall  of  St.  George,  and  ten  feet  higher,  but  is  only  one  hundred  and 
three  feet  long.  Six  great  pictures  are  there  suspended,  which  give  the 
principal  events  in  the  history  of  St.  Alexander  Nevski.  The  first  is 
of  great  ecclesiastical  interest.  It  represents  the  cardinals  sent  by  Pope 
Innocent  IV.  trying  to  persuade  Alexander  Nevski  to  join  the  Latin 
Church.  The  third  represents  his  refusing  to  bow  before  the  Tartar 
idols.  The  others  relate  to  various  battles.  Here  is  kept  the  gold  and 
silver  plate  which  the  royal  family  use  when  in  the  Kremlin. 

The  hall  of  St.  Andrew  is  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  long,  and  the 
same  width  and  height  as  that  of  the  hall  of  St.  George.  "  Time  would 
fail  me  "  to  describe  all  the  rooms  and  their  magnificence.  At  the  end 
of  the  hall  of  St.  Vladimir  is  a  staircase  called  the  "  Beautiful  Staircase." 
"  From  it  in  ancient  times  the  Tsars  allowed  the  people  to  see  '  the  light 
of  their  eyes.'  '  From  it  John  the  Terrible  looked  with  terror  upon 
the  comet  that  he  believed  foretold  his  speedy  death.  There  the  same 
bloody  wretch  transfixed  with  his  staff  the  foot  of  a  messenger  who 
brought  him  unwelcome  news,  and  rested  upon  the  staff  while  the 
letter  was  being  read.  Thence  the  False  Demetrius  was  thrown  into 
the  court  below  by  the  mob,  and  near  that  spot  the  rebel  Streltsi  tore 
an  obnoxious  nobleman  in  pieces  in  the  presence  of  the  terrified  mother 
of  Peter  the  Great.  Napoleon,  followed  by  his  marshals,  ascended  these 
steps  on  his  way  to  take  possession  of  the  palace  of  the  Kremlin. 

Many  of  these  facts  are  in  the  regular  guide-books.  Others  I  ob- 
tained from  catalogues,  works  of  travellers,  and  from  conversations  with 
guides,  couriers,  and  residents. 

Not  far  from  the  steps  is  the  banqueting-room,  where  the  Emperor 


228  HOLY   MOSCOW. 

sits  enthroned  immediately  after  he  is  crowned,  and  dines  surrounded 
by  nobles.  Crowned  heads  alone  are  permitted  to  sit  at  the  same  table 
with  him.  Near  this  is  a  private  chapel  of  the  patriarchs,  which  con- 
tains an  image  of  the  Virgin,  before  which  all  must  bow  or  be  eternally 
damned  !  In  ancient  times,  when  a  Metropolitan  or  Patriarch  was  in- 
stalled, he  had  to  come  out  of  the  door  of  this  chapel,  mount  an  ass, 
and  ride  through  Moscow,  the  Tsar  holding  the  bridle  of  the  ass. 

India,  Persia,  Roumania,  and  Greece  gave  of  their  treasures  to  the 
Court  at  Moscow  —  precious  stones  and  costly  manufactures,  "pearls, 
diamonds,  and  rubies,"  were  given  to  the  churches. 

The  Treasury  is  divided  into  several  rooms.  The  first  and  second 
contain  old  fire-arms,  armor,  colors,  standards,  trophies  taken  from  dif- 
ferent countries,  swords  of  kings,  and  such  things  as  most  nations  ex- 
hibit in  similar  institutions. 

It  is  when  we  enter  the  fourth  room  that  we  begin  to  see  "  the  bar- 
baric pearls  and  gold,"  the  relics  of  the  ancient  magnificence  of  this 
semi-Asiatic  Emperor.  Here  is  the  ivory  throne  brought  from  Con- 
stantinople by  Sophia  Palaeologus  when,  in  1472,  she  married  John  III. 
By  its  side  stands  a  throne  that  came  from  Persia.  It  was  used  by  the 
Tsar  Alexis.  This  throne  is  "  studded  with  eight  hundred  and  seventy- 
six  diamonds  and  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-three  rubies, 
besides  turquoises  and  pearls.  Near  it  stands  an  orb  of  really  great 
historical  importance.  It  was  sent  to  Vladimir,  Grand  Duke  of  Kief,  by 
the  great  Emperors  Basilius  and  Constantine."  There  was  a  crown  and 
collar  of  enamel  and  precious  stones,  and  a  chair  which  they  claimed 
contained  a  piece  of  the  true  cross.  The  orb  is  studded  with  fifty-eight 
diamonds,  eighty-nine  rubies,  twenty-three  sapphires,  fifty  emeralds,  and 
thirty-seven  pearls.  On  a  table  stands  the  crown  of  the  kingdom  of 
Kazan.  Its  wearer  was  the  great  Tartar  king  who  was  conquered  by 
John  the  Terrible.  Next  in  order  is  exhibited  the  crown  of  the  Tsar 
Michael,  surmounted  by  a  large  emerald  surrounded  by  many  precious 
stones. 

The  vastness  of  its  treasures  astonished  me.     The  story  seems  like  an 


HOLY   MOSCOW.  231 

account  of  Aladdin's  wonderful  palace  in  the  "  Arabian  Nights'  Enter- 
tainments," but  nothing  is  put  down  in  exaggeration,  and  I  shall  be 
compelled  to  go  on  until  the  reader  staggers  under  the  description  as  I 
did  under  the  spectacle.  Next  I  stood  before  the  throne  presented  by 
Abbas,  the  Shah  of  Persia,  to  Boris  Godunof.  It  seemed  as  if  it  was 
built  solidly  of  rubies  and  pearls.  On  the  next  stand  is  the  crown  worn 
by  John,  the  brother  of  Peter  I.  It  is  in  the  shape  of  a  miter,  crowned 
by  a  diamond  cross,  which  rises  from  a  ruby.  Upon  the  cross,  and  in 
the  cross,  are  nine  hundred  magnificent  diamonds.  Next  conies  the  orb 
of  Alexis  covered  with  diamonds,  but  conspicuous  by  eight  large  sap- 
phires upon  a  basis  of  crown  emeralds.  It  is  known  that  Peter  the 
Great  and  his  brother  John  were  crowned  at  the  same  time,  and  reigned 
for  a  little  while  in  unison.  Behind  this  throne  there  is  a  hole  through 
which  Sophia,  the  great  sister  of  Peter  the  Great,  prompted  her  brother 
John  on  state  occasions.  But  the  most  costly  crown  in  the  Treasury  is 
that  which  was  made  for  Catherine  I.  by  order  of  Peter  the  Great.  It 
contains  two  thousand  five  hundred  and  thirty-six  diamonds.  But  there 
is  a  stone  in  it  of  far  greater  value  than  any  of  its  diamonds,  —  the 
famous  ruby  purchased  at  Pekin,  China,  two  hundred  and  eight  years 
ago,  by  the  ambassador  of  the  Tsar  Alexis. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  the  Russian  Tsars  do  not  all  wear  the  same 
crown  which  is  handed  down  from  reign  to  reign,  but  each  successive 
Emperor  has  a  crown  made  for  himself.  Though  on  the  occasion  of  his 
coronation  he  may  choose  to  wear  a  crown  already  in  existence,  he  must 
have  one  made  specially  for  him  to  be  forever  known  as  his  crown. 

This  remark  will  explain  some  things  Jto  be  said  hereafter,  about  the 
crowns  permanently  preserved  in  the  treasuries  of  churches  and  monas- 
teries. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 
HOLY  MOSCOW  (concluded). 

HAVING  spent  a  day  in  visiting  the  tower  and  palace  described  in 
the  last  chapter,  on  another  occasion  I  explored  the  cathedrals 
within  the  famous  enclosure. 

Our  courier  said  that  it  was  better  to  visit  the  Cathedral  of  the  As- 
sumption first.  Finding  that  the  books  agreed  with  his  view,  to  it  we 
went.  Of  its  vast  treasures  in  former  times  some  idea  may  be  formed 
from  the  fact  that  though  the  more  valuable  articles  had  been  carried 
away  on  the  approach  of  the  French,  they  melted  ten  thousand  pounds 
of  silver  and  five  hundred  pounds  of  gold  from  the  images  and  shrines 
which  were  left.  These  became  the  booty  of  the  soldiers. 

Dean  Stanley,  in  his  lectures  on  the  Eastern  Church,  speaking  of  the 
Cathedral  of  the  Assumption,  says :  "  It  is  in  dimensions  what  in  the 
West  would  be  called  a  chapel  rather  than  a  cathedral,  but  it  is  so  bright 
with  recollections,  so  teeming  with  worshippers,  so  bursting  with  tombs 
and  pictures,  from  the  foundation  to  the  cupola,  that  the  smallness  of 
its  space  is  forgotten  in  the  fullness  of  its  contents."  On  the  platform 
of  its  nave,  from  Ivan  the  Great  downward  to  this  day,  the  Tsars  have 
been  crowned.  Along  its  altar-screens  are  deposited  the  most  sacred 
pictures  of  Russia.  High  in  the  cupola,  as  at  the  summit  of  the  Rus- 
sian Church,  the  Russian  Primates  were  elected.  The  building  is  four 
hundred  years  old,  and  in  its  present  form  was  reconstructed  by  Italians, 
with  the  assistance  of  native  artists.  St.  Peter,  the  first  Metropolitan 
of  Moscow,  lies  buried  there. 

Here  I  saw  a  most  extraordinary  picture.  It  is  the  Holy  Virgin  of 
Vladimir.  I  was  solemnly  informed  by  the  custodian  that  it  was  painted 
by  St.  Luke.  It  first  appears  in  authentic  history  in  Constantinople, 

232 


HOLY    MOSCOW.  233 

whence  it  was  taken  to  Kief,  and  was  brought  to  Moscow  seven  hundred 
and  twenty-nine  years  ago.  The  orthodox  Russians  believe  that  when 
Tamerlane  fled  from  Russia  in  1395,  this  picture  exerted  miraculous 
powers.  It  is  painted  on  wax.  The  jewels  around  it  are  worth  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars.  The  emerald  in  the  centre, 
scarcely  equaled  in  the  world,  is  valued  at  fifty  thousand  dollars.  I 
paused  before  the  silver  shrine  of  St.  Philip,  who  was  put  to  death 
because  he  had  publicly  rebuked  John  the  Terrible  for  his  atrocities. 
It  is  said  that  the  Emperor,  whenever  he  visits  the  cathedral,  never 
fails  "to  place  his  lips  on  the  exposed  and  withered  forehead  of  St. 
Philip." 

The  coronations  of  the  Tsars  which  occur  there  are  of  peculiar  inter- 
est, differing  in  many  respects  from  similar  ceremonies  in  all  parts  of 
the  world.  Dean  Stanley  thus  describes  one,  and  the  description  shows 
most  vividly  how  the  Emperor  and  the  Church  centre  in  the  person  of 
the  Tsar,  and  make  the  one  the  eternal  support  of  the  other.  Says 
Stanley :  "  The  coronation  ...  is  preceded  by  fasting  and  seclu- 
sion, and  takes  place  in  the  most  sacred  church  in  Russia.  The  Empe- 
ror, not,  as  in  the  corresponding  forms  of  European  investiture,  a 
passive  recipient,  but  himself  the  principal  figure  in  the  whole  scene  ; 
himself  reciting  aloud  his  confession  of  the  orthodox  faith ;  himself 
alone  on  his  knees,  amid  the  assembled  multitude,  offering  up  the  prayer 
of  intercession  for  the  empire  ;  himself  placing  his  own  crown  upon  his 
own  head  ;  himself  entering  through  the  sacred  tower  of  the  innermost 
sanctuary,  and  taking  from  the  altar  the  elements  of  the  bread  and 
wine." 

Behind  the  altar-screen  are  some  of  the  most  astonishing  treasures. 
Here  is  a  Mount  Sinai  of  pure  gold  —  a  gift  of  the  famous  prince, 
Potemkin.  In  it  rests  the  Host,  and  the  gold  and  the  silver  in  it  weigh 
respectively  nineteen  pounds.  There  is  a  Bible  presented  by  the  mother 
of  Peter  the  Great.  It  is  studded  with  emeralds,  and  weighs  about  one 
hundred  pounds.  Before  leaving  the  building  I  entered  into  the  side 
chapels,  and  saw  a  nail  from  the  true  cross,  a  portion  of  the  robe  of  our 


234  HOLY   MOSCOW. 

Saviour,  and  the  hand  of  the  Apostle  Andrew.  So  they  said,  and  so  I 
could  not  believe.  Thence  going  into  the  sacristy,  on  the  next  floor, 
they  exhibited  a  gold  cross,  studded  with  precious  stones,  and  containing 
a  piece  of  the  true  cross.  Having  seen  enough  of  that  in  different  parts 
of  the  world  to  show  that  it  must  have  been  almost  as  large  as  one  of 
the  big  trees  of  California,  or  that  there  has  been  a  great  amount  of 
lying,  and  accepting  the  latter  view,  I  was  not  filled  with  the  spirit 
of  reverence  in  the  presence  of  the  relic.  But  I  was  filled  with  rever- 
ence before  the  tombs  of  the  metropolitans  and  patriarchs,  martyrs  and 
missionaries  who  introduced  Christianity  into  Russia,  and,  when  gazing 
upon  the  head  of  Chrysostom,  of  the  genuineness  of  which  there  is 
little  doubt. 

The  next  historic  spot  was  the  cathedral  of  the  Archangel  Michael. 
Forty-five  persons  of  the  ancient  Rurik  and  Romanoff  Dynasties  are 
buried  in  the  vaults.  Above  each  coffin  is  the  effigy  of  its  occupant  in 
white  robes. 

Here  also  is  John  the  Terrible.  He  committed  every  conceivable 
crime,  married  six  wives  contrary  to  the  canons  of  the  Church,  mur- 
dered his  own  son  in  a  fit  of  passion,  and  yet  lies  next  to  the  altar ! 
Twice  a  year  a  very  peculiar  funeral  service  is  performed,  in  which 
prayers  are  offered  for  the  sins  of  all  those  buried  in  the  church,  and 
they  are  spoken  of  as  "  that  burden  of  sins,  voluntary  and  involuntary, 
known  and  unknown,"  which  they  committed  while  on  earth.  Consid- 
ering that  the  Russo  Greek  Church  repudiates  purgatory  in  an  explicit 
manner,  and  denounces  Rome  for  believing  in  it,  there  is  an  appear- 
ance of  inconsistency  in  this.  But  these  prayers  are  a  source  of  great 
revenue,  paid  for  by  fine  raiment  and  massive  vessels  of  gold  and  silver. 

Here  is  a  tomb  declared  to  contain  the  body  of  Demetrius,  or  Dimitry, 
a  young  prince,  son  of  John  the  Terrible,  who  is  supposed  to  have  been 
assassinated.  His  forehead  is  exposed  to  view.  The  people  come  con- 
stantly in  great  numbers  to  kiss  it,  and  their  lips  have  almost  worn  the 
skull  through.  It  was  a  horrid  and  revolting  spectacle  to  see  women 
kissing  this  skull.  In  the  coffin  they  claim  to  have  the  knife  with  which 


CHURCH    IN    MOSCOW. 


HOLY   MOSCOW.  237 

he  was  killed,  a  bloody  shirt,  and  some  toys  and  coins  with  which  he 
played.     Above  hangs  his  portrait  in  a  frame  of  solid  and  very  fine  gold. 

The  most  interesting  object  was  one  of  the  earliest  copies  of  the 
Gospels  in  Russian,  dating  back  to  1125.  The  very  earliest  Michell 
declares  "to  be  the  Ostromir  Manuscript,  1056."  Of  this  I  heard  when 
in  St.  Petersburg,  where  it  is  kept,  but  did  not  see  it.  The  copy  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Archangel  Michael  is  contained  in  an  enameled  covering 
of  fine  gold,  covered  with  precious  stones.  The  sacristan  showed  me  a 
cross  consisting  of  immense  pearls.  In  the  centre  was  an  emerald  a 
third  of  an  inch  wide.  With  great  solemnity  he  exhibited  through 
a  glass  a  drop  of  the  blood  of  John  the  Baptist.  It  certainly  looked 
like  blood,  and  if  it  was  not  the  blood  of  John  the  Baptist,  whose  was 
it?  This  was  the  question  propounded  to  me,  which  I  was  indeed  un- 
able to  answer.  But  such  questions  can  trouble  none  who  have  learned 
to  attach  no  weight  to  a  conclusion  drawn  from  his  own  ignorance  or 
that  of  another. 

I  have  now  conducted  the  reader  through  the  cathedral  in  which  the 
Tsars  are"  crowned,  and  that  in  which  they  are  buried.  Next  we  come 
to  the  Cathedral  of  the  Annunciation,  in  which  they  are  baptized  and 
married.  Two  miraculous  images  are  shown  here,  which  are  claimed 
to  have  wrought  wonders  against  the  enemies  of  Russia. 

The  relics  exhibited  surpassed  those  in  the  other  cathedrals.  They 
showed  the  sponge  on  which  vinegar  was  offered  to  our  Saviour,  the 
crown  of  thorns,  a  part  of  the  stick  with  which  he  was  beaten,  and,  last 
of  all,  some  of  his  blood.  . 

I  was  much  interested  in  thirty-two  silver-gilt  caskets  containing  the 
relics  of  divers  saints.  These  are  washed  once  a  year :  on  Good  Friday, 
in  the  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption.  The  water  that  is  left  after  the 
operation  is  holy,  and  cures  a  great  many  diseases.  So  the  people  be- 
lieve, and  the  fact  cannot  be  disputed  that  many  persons  are  relieved  by 
the  use  of  it.  The  evidence  that  this  water  cures  diseases  is  as  abun- 
dant and  satisfactory  as  any  evidence  of  faith-cure  that  can  be  found  in 
this  country. 


238  HOLY    MOSCOW. 

I  walked  out  over  the  floor  of  jasper  and  agate  given  by  the  Shah  of 
Persia  to  the  Tsar  Alexis,  to  the  Sacristy  of  the  Holy  Synod. 

This  was  formerly  called  the  Sacristy  of  the  Patriarchs.  Peter  the 
Great  abolished  the  Patriarchate  in  1721.  All  the  treasures  of  the  vari- 
ous patriarchs  and  sakkos — very  rich  robes  in  which  the  patriarchs  were 
consecrated  —  are  preserved  here. 

I  stated  that  John  the  Terrible  killed  his  son  in  a  fit  of  passion.  In 
memory  of  him,  he  presented  the  most  magnificent  garment  in  the 
world,  to  the  Metropolitan.  It  consists  of  crimson  velvet,  and  is  em- 
broidered all  over  with  large  pearls.  The  pearls,  rubies,  emeralds, 
almandines,  garnets,  and  diamonds  which  are  fastened  upon  it  increase 
its  weight  to  fifty-four  pounds.  Seven  miters  belonging  to  the  different 
patriarchs,  and  four  of  them  belonging  to  the  famous  Nikon,  the  founder 
of  the  Neft  Jerusalem  monastery,  are  shown,  and  the  largest  consists  of 
diamonds,  emeralds,  sapphires,  pearls  and  rubies  to  the  weight  of  five 
and  a  half  pounds.  A  splendid  sardonyx  is  there.  Behind  it  is  a  frag- 
ment of  the  purple  robe  in  which  our  Saviour  was  clothed,  and  a  small 
piece  of  the  rock  of  Calvary !  In  fact,  precious  stones  here  become 
common,  and  I  will  say  no  more  about  them  in  this  place. 

In  a  certain  room,  in  which  I  had  the  privilege  of  remaining  as  long  as 
I  pleased,  the  Holy  Chrism  which  touches  every  baptized  orthodox 
Russian  subject,  consecrates  all  orthodox  churches,  and  anoints  the 
Emperors  when  they  are  crowned,  is  made.  It  is  prepared  every  two 
or  three  years,  during  Lent,  by  the  Metropolitan  of  Moscow,  assisted  by 
clergy,  and  consists  of  oil,  white  wine,  gums,  balsams,  essential  oils,  and 
spices.  It  is  made  in  two  great  silver  kettles  and  an  immense  silver 
caldron,  presented  by  Catherine  the  Great.  When  completed  it  is 
poured  into  sixteen  silver  jars.  Everything  employed  in  making  it  con- 
sists of  silver,  down  to  the  ladles  used  for  straining  it.  The  entire  weight 
of  them  is  thirteen  thousand  pounds. 

They  have  a  very  curious  method  of  preserving  the  original  holy  oil. 
In  a  copper  vase,  with  a  very  long  neck,  which  is  overlaid  with  mother- 
of-pearl,  and  which  has  the  symbolic  name  of  the  Alabaster,  is  the 


HOLY    MOSCOW.  239 

chrism,  of  which  it  is  claimed  that  it  is  a  part  of  the  precious  ointment 
poured  upon  our  Saviour  by  Mary.  When  the  new  oil  is  made,  in  the 
manner  I  have  described,  they  take  a  few  drops  from  this  and  place  it  in 
the  new  oil.  When  the  oil  is  completed,  they  take  the  exact  number  of 
drops  out  of  the  silver  caldron  that  they  took  from  the  Alabaster, 
and  place  them  in  the  Alabaster.  Thus,  of  course,  if  they  were  to  con- 
tinue the  process  for  three  million  of  years,  there  would  always  be  an 
infinitesimal  part  of  the  original  oil.  And  this,  according  to  the 
extreme  high-potency  principle,  ought  to  make  it  still  more  valuable 
with  the  flight  of  time. 

On  Sunday  at  noon  I  attended  service  in  the  Convent  of  the  Ascen- 
sion. It  was  a  solemn  and  imposing  ceremony.  The  nuns,  dressed  in 
black,  assisted  the  priests  in  all  that  is  permitted  unto  a  woman.  The 
singing  of  the  nuns  heard  from  a  hidden  place  was  weird  and  fascinating. 
Their  conduct  after  the  service,  however,  as  they  chattered  together  like 
so  many  magpies,  obviously  remarking  on  the  persons  present,  was  not 
so  impresive. 

Here  the  princes  of  the  reigning  house  are  buried ;  the  mother  of  John 
the  Terrible,  and  four  of  his  six  wives,  among  the  rest. 

When  Peter  the  Great  was  only  seventeen  years  of  age,  he  married  a 
woman  by  the  name  of  Eudoxia  Lopukhin.  On  his  return  from  Eng- 
land, to  quell  a  fresh  insurrection  of  the  Streltsi,  Peter  forced  her  to 
take  the  veil  and  go  into  a  convent.  He  issued  a  Ukase,  in  which  he 
said  that  he  had  done  this  on  account  "  of  certain  of  her  thwartings  and 
suspicions."  In  fact,  she  was  jealous  of  a  German  lady  of  Moscow,  and 
with  very  good  cause,  for  Peter  intended  to  marry  her ;  but  she  was  dis- 
covered to  have  a  clandestine  attachment  to  a  German  whom  she  after- 
wards married.  Then  Peter  fell  in  love  with  Catherine,  the  wife  of  a 
Swedish  corporal.  This  woman  was  a  mere  peasant,  taken  prisoner 
wjth  her  whole  family  by  the  Russian  troops  in  1702.  The  commander- 
in-chief  kept  her  in  his  service,  but  in  six  months  Menshikof,  the  favor- 
ite of  Peter  the  Great,  took  her  as  his  wife,  but  in  a  few  years  gave  her 
up  to  Peter  the  Great,  with  whom  she  lived  some  years  without  marriage, 


240 


HOLY    MOSCOW. 


but  was  married  to  him  in  1712.  His  first  wife,  Eudoxia,  died  in  the 
convent  in  1731,  and  lies  buried  here. 

After  the  service  I  passed  through  the  convent,  identifying  these 
various  tombs,  and  endeavoring  to  read  the  inscriptions  upon  them, 
which  the  aid  of  an  intelligent  Russian  made  possible. 

Quite  a  romantic  account  is  given  of  the  origin  of  this  convent.  It 
was  founded  in  1639  by  Eudoxia,  the  wife  of  Dimitry  of  the  Don.  She 
presented  a  spectacle  of  singular  inconsistency.  When  appearing  in  the 


THE   GREAT    BELL. 


world  outside  she  was  dressed  in  the  most  costly  attire,  and  wore  great 
numbers  of  precious  stones.  Meanwhile  she  wore  heavy  weights  for 
humiliation,  and  fasted  almost  to  the  point  of  starvation,  and  when 
charged  with  being  more  worldly  than  she  professed,  exhibited  the  marks 
of  her  penance.  Finally  she  utterly  withdrew  from  the  world,  gave 


HOLY   MOSCOW.  241 

herself  up  to  prayer  and  the  healing  of  the  sick,  and  from  then  until  the 
present  time,  the  convent  has  been  the  burial-place  of  the  princes  of  the 
reigning  house. 

Many  historic  cannon  are  within  the  Kremlin.  In  the  arsenal  all  the 
cannon  taken  from  the  French  during  the  retreat  are  arranged  in  rows 
around  the  outside  walls  of  the  building.  The  French  had  many  allies* 
and  there  are  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  pieces  of  French  artillery,. 
one  hundred  and  eighty-nine  Austrian,  one  hundred  and  twenty-three 
Prussian,  seventy  Italian,  forty  Neapolitan,  thirty-four  Bavarian,  twenty- 
two  Dutch,  twelve  Saxon,  eight  Spanish,  and  five  Polish  ;  also  there  are 
some  from  Westphalia,  Hanover,  and  Wiirtemberg.  One  cannon,  three 
hundred  years  old,  weighs  eighty  thousand  pounds  —  not  as  large  as 
some  that  have  been  made  in  recent  times,  but  for  more  than  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years  it  was  probably  the  largest  cannon  in  the  world. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 

MOSCOW    OUTSIDE    THE     KREMLIN. 

THE  Iberian  Chapel  is  at  the  chief  gate  to  the  Kitai  G6rod  (Chinese 
town),  though  the  "  Chinese  town  "  has  no  Chinese  population, 
and  nothing  to  do  with  the  Chinese  Empire.  Kitai  means  the  centre, 
and  one  of  the  Russian  princes,  six  hundred  years  ago,  took  as  a  surname 
Kitai.  This  chapel  contains  a  copy  of  the  picture  of  the  Iberian  Mother 
of  God  brought  from  Mount  Athos.  The  picture  is  supposed  to  have 
miraculous  powers.  The  chapel  is  always  crowded  with  worshipers, 
whose  contributions  amount  to  fifty  thousand  dollars  a  year.  Whenever 
the  Emperor  visits  Moscow,  he  dismounts,  enters  this  chapel,  and 
offers  prayer  before  passing  into  the  Kremlin.  The  Cathedral  of  St. 
Basil  the  Beatified  stands  just  outside  the  Holy  Gate  of  the  Kremlin. 
It  occupies  the  site  of  an  ancient  church  and  cemetery  where  Basil  was 
buried.  The  Russians  have  a  very  high  opinion  of  idiots.  Idiotic  or 
semi-idiotic  beggars  are  very  common,  travelling  about  in  the  winter 
barefooted.  Basil  is  said  to  have  been  a  prophet,  and  to  have  wrought 
miracles,  and  he  is  canonized  in  the  church  under  the  singular  descrip- 
tion of  being  "  idiotic  for  Christ's  sake."  It  is  a  very  singular-looking 
church,  having  eleven  domes,  no  two  alike  in  shape  or  color,  but  each 
dome  surmounts  a  chapel  dedicated  to  some  saint.  In  the  sixteenth 
century  the  relics  of  another  saint,  John  the  Idiot,  surnamed  the  Water- 
Carrier  and  Big  Cap,  "  from  his  habit  of  carrying  water  for  others,  and 
because  he  wore  a  heavy  iron  cap  on  his  head,"  were  placed  in  the  Cathe- 
dral. They  show  the  heavy  weights  he  used  to  wear.  In  1812  his 
cap  was  carried  off  or  lost. 

Napoleon  hated  the  aspect  of  this   building,  and   in  famous  words 
ordered   the   general  who  commanded  the   artillery,   "  to   destroy  that 

242 


MOSCOW   OUTSIDE    THE    KREMLIN.  243 

mosque;"  but  it  was  not  done.  I  suppose  this  being  "idiotic  for  Christ's 
sake,"  must  have  reference  to  the  observations  in  the  New  Testament, 
about  being  fools  for  Christ's  sake.  Christians  should,  indeed,  if  nec- 
essary, be  willing  to  seem  as  fools,  to  the  heathen  and  the  ungodly,  on 
account  of  their  piety  and  moral  principle,  but  to  act  like  fools  in  natural 
matters  is  never  required  by  God,  though  many  in  all  lands  seem  to  be 
remarkably  endowed  for  that  grace,  if  it  be  a  grace.  The  United  States 
need  not  fear  to  enter  into  competition  with  Russia,  or  any  other  country, 
in  producing  candidates  for  saintship,  if  idiocy,  or  the  imitation  of  idiocy, 
is  a  qualification. 

The  great  Foundling  Hospital  is  a  painfully  interesting  institution.  It 
is  the  largest  nursery  in  the  world,  and  it  is  truly  said  of  it  that  "  it 
affords  plenty  of  materials  for  reflection  to  the  moralist  or  the  student  of 
social  science."  Catherine  the  Great  founded  it,  and  it  was  opened  in 
1763.  It  has  been  supported  by  a  savings  bank,  and  a  monopoly  of 
the  sale  of  playing  cards,  but  its  revenues  are  hardly  adequate,  though 
nine  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  annum  are  granted  to  it  by  the 
Government.  More  than  fourteen  thousand  children  pass  through  it 
annually. 

After  exploring  it  thoroughly,  I  came  away  with  the  conviction  that 
its  moral  and  social  influence  is  not  good.  Infants  are  received,  only 
two  questions  being  asked  :  "  Has  the  child  been  baptized  ?  "  and,  if  so, 
"  By  what  name  ? "  They  then  weigh  it,  give  it  a  number,  which  it  is 
always  to  wear  around  its  neck,  and  which  is  figured  upon  its  cot.  A 
duplicate  is  handed  to  the  person  who  brings  the  child.  There  is  a  long 
line  of  nurses  standing  to  receive  children  after  they  come  in,  and  after 
each  child  is  washed  and  robed  in  the  clothes  of  the  hospital,  it  is 
passed  over  to  the  woman  who  stands  at  the  end  of  the  line. 
These  women  are  sometimes  the  depositors  of  their  own  children,  but 
most  of  them  have  left  their  own  children  in  the  country  to  be  brought 
up  by  others,  coming  here  to  get  the  wages  of  fourteen  to  sixteen  cents 
a  day,  and  the  excellent  living  which  they  have.  I  arrived  at  the  institu- 
tion at  eleven  o'clock.  Twenty  infants  had  been  received  that  day,  and 


244  MOSCOW   OUTSIDE    THE    KREMLIN. 

while  I  was  there  six  more  were  brought  in,  and,  departing,  I  met  two 
entering  the  gate. 

Everything  is  done  with  tenderness,  quickness,  and  simplicity.  The 
thousand  infants  generally  in  the  house  are  bathed  in  copper  tubs  that 
are  lined  with  thick  flannel,  and  dressed  upon  pillows.  There  are  dis- 
tinct wards  for  every  disease  of  children.  One  is  devoted  entirely  to  eye 
diseases.  Weakly  infants  are  kept  alive  by  being  placed  in  hollow 
copper  bassinets,  the  sides  and  bottom  being  filled  with  warm  water. 
The  morning  after  they  have  been  brought  in,  they  are  baptized,  if  it  has 
not  already  been  done,  and  named  after  the  saint  who  presides  over  that 
day  in  the  Russian  calendar  ;  then  they  take  as  the  surname  "  the 
Christian  name  of  the  priest  who  baptizes  them."  They  stay  in  the 
institution  four  weeks,  and  are  vaccinated. 

If  they  are  well,  the  nurses,  who  are  allowed  a  dollar  and  twelve  cents 
a  month  to  support  them,  take  them  to  the  villages  where  they  live,  and 
remain  there,  being  supervised  by  the  doctor  in  the  district.  On  the 
poor  living  that  they  get  in  that  awful  climate,  one  half  of  them  die  be- 
fore the  first  year  ends,  and  not  more  than  twenty-five  per  cent,  grow  to 
be  men  and  women. 

Of  course  the  great  majority  of  these  children  are  born  out  of  wed- 
lock :  Moscow  furnishes  over  forty  per  cent,  of  such  children,  while  in  the 
whole  Russian  Empire  the  average  is  less  than  five  per  cent.  Many  of 
these,  however,  are  brought  by  railroad  to  the  city.  It  is  also  a  fact  that 
these  nurses  neglect  their  own  children,  leaving  them  in  the  villages 
when  they  come  to  get  work  in  the  hospitals.  Most  of  the  boys  become 
farm  hands,  and  are  drafted  into  the  army  like  the  rest.  There  is  an 
industrial  school  in  Moscow,  where  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  them  are 
brought  up,  and  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  are  trained  as  hospital 
dressers.  If  any  girl  marries  before  she  attains  her  majority,  the  institu- 
tion gives  her  a  trousseau. 

No  questions  are  asked  as  to  the  paternity  of  the  children,  and  all 
responsibility  is  removed  from  the  parents.  There  is  a  similar  institu- 
tion in  St.  Petersburg.  There,  and  in  Moscow,  vice  and  licentiousness 


CHURCH    OF    VASIL1    THE    BLESSED. 


MOSCOW   OUTSIDE    THE    KREMLIN.  .       247 

are  greatly  stimulated,  and  the  morality  of  the  peasantry,  and  the  work- 
ing-girl class,  is  exceedingly  low. 

The  specta.cle  of  a  thousand  infants  under  four  weeks  of  age,  with  the 
certainty  that  not  one  of  them  would  ever  know  parental  training,  or  ex- 
perience the  happiness  which  attends  an  average  Christian  home,  and, 
with  the  further  certainty  that  half  of  them  would  die  before  they  were 
a  year  old,  and  half  of  the  remainder  before  they  were  eight  years  old, 
and  that  the  survivors  would  have  to  live  the  monotonous,  dreary,  im- 
poverished and  hopeless  lives  of  Russian  peasants,  suggests  an  insoluble 
problem  of  Divine  Providence. 

About  five  miles  from  the  centre  of  the  city,  in  a  direction  toward 
Smolensk,  are  the  Sparrow  Hills.  My  drive  to  these  famous  hills,  which 
are  only  a  few  hundred  feet  in  height,  and  if  along  the  Hudson  River, 
would  hardly  attract  attention,  but  are  of  great  importance  because  of 
the  flatness  of  the  country  in  which  Moscow  is  situated,  was  full  of 
interest.  They  are  grassy  and  beautiful,  and  the  view  of  the  city  from 
them  is  magnificent. 

When  the  French  army  came  along  the  Smolensk  road  to  take  posses- 
sion of  Moscow,  they  ascended  these  hills,  and  caught  their  first  view  of 
the  golden  minarets  and  starry  domes  of  Moscow  Napoleon,  in  great 
excitement,  as  he  stood  upon  these  hills,  "  gazed  upon  the  goal  of  his 
ambition,  and  cried  to  his  soldiers,  '  All  this  is  yours  ! '  As  the  his- 
torian observes,  "The  Kremlin  faces  these  hills,  and  as  the  traveller 
gazes  on  it,  he  will  picture  to  himself  what  must  have  been  the  feelings 
of  the  French  army  when  they  caught  the  first  view  of  the  golden 
minarets  and  starry  domes."  After  traversing  the  dreary  plains  of 
Lithuania,  and  fighting,  with  fearful  loss,  their  way  to  this  spot,  the 
limit  of  their  long  career,  no  wonder  that  these  weary  legions,  unable  to 
suppress  their  joy,  shouted  with  one  voice,  "  Moscow  !  "  The  reception 
that  they  met  I  have  described  in  a  former  chapter. 

The  Church  of  Vasili  the  Blessed  is  said  to  be  the  most  curious  edifice 
in  Moscow.  It  was  designed  and  erected  by  an  Italian  artist  for  John 
the  Terrible,  about  three  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago.  There  is  a  tra- 


248  MOSCOW  OUTSIDE    THE    KREMLIN. 

dition  that  John  had  the  eyes  of  the  artist  put  out,  that  he  might  never 
build  anything  equal  to  it.  In  any  of  the  Western  nations  since  the 
time  of  the  Aborigines,  the  artist  would  have  been  in  danger  of  violence 
for  a  less  complimentary  reason. 

Its  cupolas  are  of  different  shapes  and  dimensions.  They  have  been 
compared  to  bulbs,  "  some  beaten  into  facets,  others  ribbed ;  these 
carved  into  diamond  points,  like  pineapples,  those  striped  in  spirals ; 
others,  again,  covered  with  overlapping  scales,  lozenge-shaped,  or  celled 
like  a  honeycomb."  It  is  painted  like  Joseph's  coat  —  of  many  colors.  A 
German  writer  says,  "  You  might  take  it  for  an  immense  dragon,  with 
shining  scales,  crouching,  and  asleep."  And  Rambaud  says,  "Con- 
ceive the  most  brilliant  bird  of  tropical  forests  suddenly  taking  the  shape 
of  a  cathedral,  and  you  have  the  Vasili-Blagennoif  church." 


CHAPTER    XXVII. 

MOSCOW    OUTSIDE    THE    KREMLIN    (continued}. 

THE  finest  building  to  be  seen  in  Moscow,  if  not  the  most  mag- 
nificent building  in  all  Europe,  is  not  within  the  Kremlin.  It 
is  called  the  Church  of  St.  Saviour. 

Three  months  after  Napoleon  had  retreated  from  Moscow,  the  Em- 
peror Alexander  decreed  that  a  memorial  temple  should  be  built.  Five 
years  afterward  the  foundation  was  laid.  It  was  to  stand  on  the  Spar- 
row Hills,  and  was  to  be  seven  hundred  and  seventy  feet  high  ;  that  is, 
two  hundred  feet  higher  than  the  Washington  Monument,  which  is  now 
the  highest  edifice  in  the  world.  It  was  to  stand  between  the  routes  of 
entrance  and  departure  taken  by  Napoleon.  The  architects  worked  for 
ten  years,  and  spent  four  million  rubles  on  this  amazing  plan. 

The  Emperor  became  dissatisfied,  and  corrupt  motives  were  attributed 
to  them.  The  work  was  ordered  to  cease.  The  architect  and  committee 
were  banished  to  Siberia,  and  their  estates  confiscated  to  the  Empire. 
A  new  site  was  chosen,  at  that  time  occupied  by  a  nunnery.  The  nun- 
nery was  removed.  The  site,  with  embankment,  terraces,  etc.,  cost  nine 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  the  foundations  were  laid  after  the  site 
was  prepared  —  July  27,  1838.  In  1858  the  scaffolding  was  removed. 

To  give  some  idea  of  the  stupendous  size  of  the  building,  I  will  say 
that  the  item  of  scaffolding  cost  two  hundred  and  seventy-seven  thou- 
sand rubles ;  that  is,  about  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  dollars.  Since 
the  scaffolding  was  removed,  a  quarter  of  a  century  has  been  occupied 
in  fitting  and  decorating  the  building. 

I  might  venture  to  challenge  the  reader  to  prepare  his  imagination, 
for,  whatever  he  may  imagine,  the  simplest  description  of  the  facts  will 
surpass  it,  and  the  reality  as  far  transcend  any  possible  description  as  a 

landscape  excels  a  painting. 

249 


25o  MOSCOW   OUTSIDE    THE    KREMLIN. 

The  building  is  in  the  Graeco-Byzantine  style.  It  has  five  immense 
copper  cupolas,  gilded  with  nine  hundred  pounds  of  solid  gold.  The 
total  cost  of  these  cupolas  and  the  gilding  is  eight  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  dollars.  Above  the  centre  is  the  cross,  thirty  feet  high,  and 
standing  three  hundred  and  forty  feet  above  the  ground.  The  building 
covers  seventy-three  thousand  square  feet.  The  peal  of  bells  cost  sixty- 
five  thousand  dollars.  The  largest  weighs  twenty-six  tons,  or  fifty-two 
thousand  pounds.  The  foundation  of  this  stupendous  structure  is  Fin- 
nish granite,  but  the  entire  edifice  is  faced  with  white  marble.  The 
doors  of  the  building  cost  three  hundred  and  ten  thousand  dollars. 

Its  exterior  may  be  equalled  in  Europe :  I  cannot  say  that  it  is  not, 
for  one  or  two  of  the  most  celebrated  structures,  I  have  not  seen.  But 
a  correspondent  of  the  London  Times  for  August  19,  1884,  says:  "I 
have  seen  most  of  the  celebrated  cathedrals  of  Europe,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  those  of  Spain,  but  in  its  way  I  know  of  nothing  so  exquisite  as 
the  exterior  of  St.  Saviour's  at  Moscow." 

The  reader  will  now  wish  to  know  something  about  the  interior  of 
the  building.  The  floor  of  the  temple  is  two  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
square,  which  is  the  length  of  the  Greek  cross.  The  impression  of  vast- 
ness  is  greatly  increased  by  the  height  of  the  room  within,  which  is 
two  hundred  and  thirty  feet.  The  entire  floor  is  of  marble,  and  the 
walls  are  lined  with  exquisite  varieties  of  it.  The  marble  for  the  floors 
and  walls  cost  more  than  fifteen  hundred  thousand  dollars.  There  are 
thirty-six  windows  in  the  galleries,  and  sixteen  in  the  cupola.  The 
building  is  lighted  with  candelabra. 

The  Russians  will  use  no  gas  in  any  of  their  temples,  or  palaces,  or 
royal  banqueting-rooms ;  and  the  light  of  immense  numbers  of  the  best 
candles  is  certainly  the  most  exquisite  light  that  shines  in  the  world, 
except  that  of  the  sun.  There  are  six  hundred  and  forty  of  these  can- 
delabra in  this  temple,  in  one  row,  and  they  cost  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  thousand  dollars.  In  another  there  are  six  hundred,  that  cost  sixty 
thousand  dollars. 

The  walls  of   the  building  are   covered  with    magnificent    paintings. 


MOSCOW  OUTSIDE    THE    KREMLIN.  251 

The  materials  and  concomitants  of  the  latter,  apart  from  the  sacred 
pictures,  the  value  of  which  I  could  not  ascertain,  cost  one  hundred  and 
eighty  thousand  dollars.  The  building  will  hold  ten  thousand  persons, 
and  its  entire  cost  is  nearly  twelve  million  dollars. 

It  is  not  because  of  the  commercial  value  of  these  treasures  that  I 
give  their  alleged  cost.  It  was  not  my  purpose  to  take  an  inventory  of 
the  assets  of  the  Russian  Empire,  considered  civilly,  ecclesiastically,  or 
as  a  military  power.  The  statements  are  made  simply  to  assist  the 
reader  to  form  some  idea  of  the  grandeur  purchased  by  such  a  lavish 
outlay.  Every  traveller  whom  I  met  in  Moscow  —  and  there  were  sev- 
eral who  had  been  in  Rome,  and  other  Italian  cities  —  declared  the 
Church  of  St.  Saviour  to  be  the  most  beautiful  edifice  they  had  ever  seen. 
St.  Isaac's  Cathedral  in  St.  Petersburg  has  a  higher  degree  of  imposing 
grandeur ;  St.  Saviour  is  also  grand,  but  its  prominent  quality  is  beauty. 

The  three  finest  views  of  the  city  are  from  the  tower  of  Ivan  the 
Great,  the  Sparrow  Hills,  and  the  belfry  of  the  Simonoff  Monastery. 
Of  two  of  them  I  have  already  spoken,  and  to  the  third  drove  in  a  car- 
riage ;  a  distance  of  six  or  seven  miles  from  the  Slavianski  Bazaar. 
The  belfry  is  three  hundred  and  eighty  feet  high.  I  ascended  to  the 
very  summit,  and  looked  out  of  a  little  window  which  the  bell-ringer 
opened.  Unfortunately  for  my  ears,  I  arrived  at  the  top  of  the  cupola 
at  the  time  when  one  of  the  great  bells  had  to  ring  for  twenty  consecu- 
tive minutes. 

The  bell-ringer,  who  seemed  to  me  a  worthy  successor  of  Basil  the 
Idiot,  and  John  the  Idiot,  sat  on  a  cushion,  working  a  huge  pendulum 
with  his  foot,  in  the  manner  described  in  my  reference  to  the  ringing  of 
the  bells  of  St.  Petersburg.  To  be  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  a  bell 
weighing  six  or  eight  tons,  struck  by  a  clapper  of  great  size,  for  twenty 
minutes,  leaves  a  man  in  doubt  for  some  time  whether  he  is  not  deaf. 
When  he  began  we  did  not  know  that  the  bell  would  ring  for  so 
long  a  period.  The  wind  blew  through  the  belfry,  so  as  to  make  it 
dangerous  to  get  between  two  windows. 

The  view  was  magnificent.     The  Moskva  could  be  seen  winding  its 


2S2  MOSCOW   OUTSIDE    THE    KREMLIN. 

way  through  the  plain  —  a  vast  prairie  stretching  away  toward  the  south. 
The  Sparrow  Hills  could  be  seen  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Donskoi  Monas- 
tery. Service  was  progressing  in  one  of  the  churches  (of  which  there 
are  six)  —  the  Cathedral  of  the  Assumption  —  an  immense  building  in 
the  Byzantine  style  of  architecture.  Various  relics  are  exhibited,  and 
not  far  from  the  centre  of  the  inclosure,  which  is  surrounded  by  a  wall 
half  a  mile  long,  is  a  pond  where  the  sick,  as  in  the  pool  of  Bethesda, 
believe  themselves  to  be  cured.  A  gold  cross,  studded  with  precious 
stones,  many  costly  articles  of  ecclesiastical  raiment,  and  riches  of  vari- 
ous kinds,  are  exhibited  here.  This  monastery,  five  hundred  years  ago, 
was  the  most  important  in  Russia.  It  once  owned  twelve  thousand 
male  serfs. 

The  monks  sang  magnificently,  but  there  was  not  a  face  among  them 
that  exhibited  anything  but  the  most  profound  indifference.  Some  of 
the  young  monks  fixed  their  eyes  upon  the  ladies  who  accompanied  me 
from  the  hotel,  and  kept  them  there  even  while  they  were  singing  the 
prayers,  which  they  appeared  to  repeat  like  parrots,  without  any  internal 
consciousness  or  recognition  of  the  meaning  of  the  words,  but  in  most 
melodious  tones. 

Knowing  that  there  were  several  thousand  Tartars  constantly  living  in 
Moscow,  and  wishing  to  observe  their  worship,  with  much  pains  I  ascer- 
tained the  location  of  the  Mosque,  which  is  in  what  is  called  Tartar 
street,  and  drove  to  the  place.  There  the  Mohammedan  priest  met  us 
with  Oriental  courtesy,  and  communicated  the  information  that  evening 
prayer  would  occur  precisely  at  sundown,  and  that  we  might  be  per- 
mitted to  remain  outside  the  door,  looking  in,  while  the  service  pro- 
gressed. 

Here  I  was  brought  for  the  first  time  in  direct  contact  with  that 
extraordinary  system  of  religion  which,  without  an  idol,  an  image,  or  a 
picture,  holds  one  hundred  and  seventy  million  of  the  human  race  in 
absolute  subjection,  and  whose  power,  after  the  lapse  of  twelve  hundred 
years,  is  as  great  as  at  the  beginning.  This  mosque  is  very  plain, 
very  large,  and  almost  square,  surmounted  by  a  cupola  and  a  minaret ; 


MOSCOW   OUTSIDE    THE    KREMLIN.  253 

while    upon   the  very  highest    point    could   be   seen  a  small  crescent. 
From  the  minaret  the  people  are  summoned  to  prayers. 

Dr.  J.  H.  Vincent  for  many  years  employed  at  Chautauqua  the  late 
A.  O.  Van  Lennep,  who  went  upon  the  summit  of  a  house  at  evening 
time,  dressed  in  the  Turkish  costume,  and  called  the  people  to  prayer. 

I  supposed  when  I  heard  him  that  he  was  over-doing  the  matter  as 
respects  the  excruciating  tones  and  variations  of  voice  which  he  em- 
ployed, or  else  he  had  an  extraordinary  qualification  for  making  hideous 
sounds,  whereby  he  out-Turked  the  Turks,  and  sometimes  considered 
whether  Dr.  Vincent  did  not  deserve  to  be  expostulated  with  for  allow- 
ing such  frightful  noises  to  clash  with  the  ordinary  sweet  accords  of 
Chautauqua.  Worthy  Mr.  Van  Lennep  will  never  appear  there  again, 
but  I  am  able  to  vindicate  him  from  such  unworthy  suspicion  as  I  cher- 
ished. He  did  his  best  to  produce  the  worst  sounds  he  could,  but  his 
worst  was  not  bad  enough  to  equal  the  reality.  With  his  hands  on  his 
ears,  the  Mohammedan  priest  of  the  great  mosque  of  Moscow  emitted,  for 
the  space  of  seven  minutes  or  thereabouts,  a  series  of  tones  for  which 
I  could  find  no  analogy  in  anything  I  had  ever  heard  from  the  human 
voice.  There  seemed  occasionally  a  resemblance  to  the  smothered  cries 
of  a  cat  in  an  ash-hole ;  again,  to  the  mournful  wail  of  a  hound  tied  be- 
hind a  barn ;  and,  again,  to  the  distant  echo  of  a  tin  horn  on  a  canal- 
boat,  in  a  section  where  the  canal  cuts  between  mountains.  The  reader 
may  think  this  extravagant,  but  it  is  not,  as  he  will  ascertain  if  ever  he 
hears  the  like. 

Devotees  to  the  number  of  about  thirty  appeared  for  evening  prayer. 
Each  wore  the  Tartar  costume  and  a  turban,  entered  the  room,  and 
prostrated  themselves,  while  the  priest  sat  facing  them.  Six  or  eight 
times  he  spoke  a  word  which  was  unintelligible  to  me,  and  all  prostrated 
themselves,  bending  over  with  their  faces  on  the  ground.  This  they  did 
frequently,  and  at  the  end  of  a  certain  time  he  made  a  peculiar  prostra- 
tion, after  which  they  rose  and  came  out.  Not  more  than  twenty  words 
were  spoken  by  him,  and  not  a  sound  was  emitted  from  the  lips  of  any 
one  else. 


254  MOSCOW   OUTSIDE    THE    KREMLIN. 

I  confess  to  having  been  impressed  strongly  by  the  solemnity  which 
characterized  their  countenances,  attitudes,  and  whole  bearing.  The 
protest  of  Mohammedanism  against  idolatry  is  weighty.  Its  utterance 
of  the  name  of  one  invisible,  eternal  God,  so  as  to  prepare  its  devotees 
to  resist  all  compromise  with  paganism,  was  an  utterance  of  truth  ;  and 
after  a  study  of  the  Greek  Church  as  it  appears  in  Russia,  I  did  not 
wonder  that,  in  a  conflict  between  the  two,  Mohammedanism  was  able 
to  overrun  many  of  the  fairest  portions  of  the  Christian  heritage,  and 
to  break  down  and  destroy  that  form  of  Christianity. 

I  have  not  spoken  of  the  picture  galleries  of  Moscow,  for  they  are 
not  equal  to  those  in  many  other  parts  of  Europe.  In  a  private  gallery 
I  saw  some  magnificent  paintings.  One  in  particular  represented  Peter 
the  Great's  great  sister  Sophia,  after  he  had  shut  her  in  a  convent  for 
life  because  of  her  supposed  alliance  with  the  Streltsi.  She  seemed  the 
most  vivid  impersonation  of  intellectual  ability,  physical  energy,  wrath, 
and  disappointed  ambition,  ever  seen  in  the  form  of  woman. 


CHAPTER   XXVIII. 

"  THE     CANTERBURY     OF     RUSSIA." 

EVERY  traveller  worthy  the  name,  whom  I  met  in  Russia,  and  most 
of  those  to  whom  I  had  spoken  about  the  proposed  journey,  rec- 
ommended a  visit  to  the  Troitsia  monastery.  An  English  nobleman 
who  had  been  a  long  time  in  Russia,  and  whom  I  fortunately  met  in 
Northern  Norway,  stated  that  if  he  had  to  select  any  one  of  the  objects 
of  interest  in  Russia  as  pre-eminently  the  greatest,  it  would  be  this  an- 
cient monastery. 

The  tour  to  it  and  its  exploration,  together  with  the  return  to  Moscow, 
occupied  very  profitably,  as  well  as  pleasantly,  an  entire  day.  It  is  forty- 
five  miles  from  Moscow,  on  the  road  to  Yaroslaf,  and  the  road  passes 
through  a  good  farming  country  which,  for  Russia,  is  well  populated. 
More  life  was  visible  from  the  train,  more  which  resembled  the  scenery 
of  other  countries,  than  I  saw  elsewhere  in  Russia. 

It  is  a  most  pleasing  experience  of  travel  to  take  up  a  subject  of  which 
one  has  only  vague  knowledge,  yet  sufficient  to  create  some  desire  to 
know  more,  and  then  to  read  about  it  and  find  enthusiasm  kindling  until 
the  desire  to  visit  the  place  becomes  too  strong  to  be  resisted.  If,  after 
such  feeling  has  been  engendered,  the  visit  is  not  disappointing,  all  ex- 
pectations being  fully  met  and  even  surpassed,  the  whole  takes  its  place 
among  the  most  valued  treasures  of  memory ;  which  is  true  of  my  experi- 
ence in  connection  with  this  excursion. 

The  age  of  this  monastery  has  much  to  do  with  its  renown.  It  was 
established  by  St.  Sergius  and  twelve  disciples,  in  1342.  St.  Sergius 
was  a  very  pious  man,  according  to  the  standard  of  those  times.  He 
wore  heavy  weights,  fasted  and  prayed,  and  inflicted  upon  himself  so 
many  hardships  and  tortures  as  to  place  beyond  doubt  his  devotion  and 

255 


256  "THE   CANTERBURY    OF  RUSSIA." 

self-abnegation.  The  Patriarch  of  Constantinople  conferred  upon  him 
many  honors. 

The  sovereigns  of  Moscow  frequently  counseled  with  him,  and  when 
the  famous  Dimitry  of  the  Don  started  for  the  battle  of  Kuklikova  he 
would  not  go  until  he  had  received  a  blessing  from  St.  Sergius.  He  then 
set  out,  accompanied  by  two  monks  from  this  monastery,  Osliabia  and 
Peresvet.  These  fought  by  the  side  of  Dimitry,  and  one  of  them,  who 
was  encountered  by  a  Tartar  adversary  of  equal  strength  and  valor,  fell 
dead  at  the  same  instant  as  did  his  foe.  It  was  believed  by  Dimitry 
and  all  his  followers  that  the  blessing  of  Sergius  caused  the  victory,  and 
great  possessions  in  the  shape  of  lands  were  bestowed  upon  the  mon- 
astery, which  grew  very  rich  and  very  powerful. 

While  many  of  the  monks  began  to  be  luxurious,  tradition  says  "  that 
the  holy  Sergius  remained  as  before —  simple,  self-denying,  and  laborious  ; 
cutting  wood  and  fetching  water  to  the  last."  The  annals  of  the  Russo- 
Greek  Church  declare  that  the  Holy  Virgin,  with  the  two  apostles  — 
Peter  and  John — appeared  in  the  cell  of  St.  Sergius  in  the  year  1388, 
four  years  before  his  death  Sixteen  years  after  he  died,  the  horde  of 
Tartars  laid  waste  the  habitation,  which  was  re-established  in  1423. 
Subsequently  thirty  monasteries  were  attached  to  it,  and  a  vast  amount 
of  land. 

In  1 764  this  monastery  owned  one  hundred  and  six  thousand  male  serfs, 
which,  allowing  one  woman  and  three  children  to  each  male,  made  more 
than  half  a  million  of  human  beings  subject  to  and  dependent  upon  it. 
It  was  to  this  monastery  that  Peter  the  Great  fled  with  his  brother  John 
when  the  Streltsi  rose  against  him.  Since  that  time  it  has  been  undis- 
turbed. The  French  went  half-way  from  Moscow  to  it,  but  they  turned 
back,  leaving  the  great  treasures  which  they  might  have  seized  undis- 
turbed. This,  the  monks  think,  was  the  result  of  the  miraculous  inter- 
vention of  St.  Sergius.  They  also  claim  that  God  has  specially  blessed 
and  cared  for  them  in  that  the  plague  and  cholera  have  never  yet  got 
inside  the  walls. 

There  are  ten  churches  within  the  monastery,  but,  before  speaking  of 


"THE   CANTERBURY   OF   RUSSIA."  257 

them,  I  will  describe  the  walls.  They  are  twenty  feet  thick,  forty-five 
hundred  feet  long,  and  enclose  a  vast  space.  At  the  angles  are  eight 
towers,  and  there  is  a  very  curious  one  which  has  an  obelisk  upon  it, 
ending  in  a  duck  carved  in  stone.  This  commemorates  the  fact  that 
Peter  the  Great,  who  repaired  the  walls,  used  to  go  out  duck-shooting  to 
a  neighboring  pond. 

Fortunate  in  procuring  a  catalogue  of  the  treasures  of  the  monastery, 
besides  the  usual  assistance  of  guide-books,  and  having  several  com- 
panions, one  or  two  of  whom  spoke  both  German  and  English,  and  also 
a  good  courier,  I  was  enabled  to  ask  any  question  to  which  a  reasonable 
answer,  though  sometimes  not  a  credible  one,  could  be  given. 

In  the  Cathedral  of  the  Trinity  are  preserved  the  remains  of  St. 
Sergius.  His  shrine  weighs  nine  hundred  and  thirty-six  pounds,  and 
is  of  pure  silver.  The  remains  of  the  saint  are  sometimes  exposed 
to  view,  but  on  this  occasion  the  face  was  covered  with  an  embroidered 
cloth.  His  staff,  and  various  other  relics,  were  exhibited.  Two  pict- 
ures, painted  on  parts  of  his  coffin,  hang  on  the  walls.  One  of  them  was 
carried  into  battle  by  Peter  the  Great,  and  by  means  of  the  same  the 
Emperor  Alexander  I.  was  blessed  in  1812.  This  image  was  said  to 
have  assisted  at  several  great  battles.  The  names  of  those  battles  are 
recorded  on  the  silver  plate  at  the  back. 

There  are  here  some  of  the  most  remarkable  figures  which  can  be  im- 
agined. While  the  interior  of  the  cathedral  is  filled  with  great  silver 
ornaments,  in  the  Archbishop's  stall  there  is  a  representation  of  the 
Last  Supper.  Every  figure  consists  of  solid  gold,  with  one  exception, 
and  that  is  the  figure  of  Judas,  which  is  of  brass.  Every  one  of  these 
images  is  adorned  with  many  precious  stones.  Over  the  cell  in  which 
the  Holy  Virgin  is  said  to  have  appeared  to  St.  Sergius,  a  chapel  is 
erected. 

There  is  a  very  large  church,  over  three  hundred  years  old,  with  five 
cupolas.  It  is  called  the  Church  of  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin.  In 
1609,  while  the  Poles  were  bombarding  the  walls  of  the  monastery,  that 
chapel  was  consecrated.  Three  thousand  of  the  inmates  of  the  monastery 


258  "THE   CANTERBURY   OF   RUSSIA." 

had  died  of  scurvy,  and  this  chapel  was  dedicated  to  prayer  for  them. 
Under  that  altar  Peter  the  Great  hid  himself,  and  a  big  two-headed  eagle, 
made  of  wood,  is  placed  above  it  to  commemorate  the  fact. 

The  Ecclesiastical  Academy  is  within  this  building.  There  the  priests 
are  instructed.  The  rector  is  a  very  learned  man.  He  could  not  con- 
verse with  me  in  Russian,  on  account  of  my  ignorance  of  that  language. 
I  could  not  converse  with  him,  on  account  of  his  ignorance  of  English. 
He  was  willing  to  speak  with  me  in  Latin  or  Greek.  I  also  was  willing 
to  speak  with  him  in  either  of  those  languages,  but  mere  willingness  cannot 
be  substituted  for  ability.  My  pronunciation  of  Greek  and  Latin  was 
unintelligible  to  him,  and  his  was  incomprehensible  to  me.  What  he  was 
willing  to  say  had  to  be  diluted  through  one  or  two  languages  before  it 
reached  me. 

The  churches  were  full  —  crowded  almost  to  suffocation  —  with  wor- 
shipers. After  a  vast  concourse  had  emerged  from  one  of  the  churches,  I 
entered  it,  and  found  it  still,  to  all  appearances,  full,  and  the  atmosphere 
thick  with  "mephitic  exhalations."  The  people  had  been  packed  like 
herrings  in  a  box,  for  the  space  of  two  hours.  Many  were  there  who  had 
travelled  two  hundred  miles,  and  some  as  many  thousand,  to  make  the  pil- 
grimage to  the  shrine  of  St.  Sergius.  Some  were  very  aged,  and  halted 
feebly  to  the  sacred  spot,  bowing,  and  crossing  themselves  in  an  Oriental 
manner.  Others,  though  not  aged,  had  a  weary  and  wan  look,  and, 
after  having  paid  their  devotions,  turned  away,  with  the  apparent  con- 
sciousness that  they  had  made  their  salvation  sure.  Women  were 
bringing  their  children,  and  lifting  them  up  to  kiss  the  cloth  which 
covered  the  face  of  the  dead  saint,  while  the  pictures  upon  the  walls 
here  and  there  received  similar  salutations. 

The  treasures  exhibited  in  the  sacristy  are  rare  and  valuable.  Among 
them  I  noticed  particularly  many  ancient  manuscripts,  but,  of  course, 
their  antiquity  is  not  to  be  compared  with  that  of  similar  works  of  other 
countries,  for  Russia  is  a  young  nation  scarce  a  thousand  years  old. 
A  conspicuous  object  was  a  most  splendid  copy  of  the  Gospels  about 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  old.  Its  covers  are  enameled.  Upon  them 


THE    MONASTERY    OK    ST.    SERGIUS. 


"THE   CANTERBURY   OF   RUSSIA."  261 

is  a  large  cross,  with  rubies  placed  in  contrast  with  emeralds  and 
sapphires  of  great  size.  The  great  curiosity  was  a  copy  of  the  Church 
services  "  written  in  golden  letters  on  Persian  vellum  of  the  finest  and 
most  delicate  texture,  hardly  thicker  than  gold-beater's  skin." 

The  robes  worn  by  the  priesthood  in  the  splendid  ceremonial  of  the 
Russian  Church  serve  as  the  basis  for  the  accumulation  of  wealth.  A 
concise  description  of  the  robes  is  in  the  following  quotation  :  "  The 
jewelled  robes  preserved  in  this  far-famed  fortress-shrine  are  hardly,  if 
at  all,  inferior  in  costliness  to  those  contained  within  the  precincts  of  the 
Kremlin  in  Moscow.  Imperial  personages  have  ever  vied  with  each 
other  in  the  richness  of  their  gifts,  and  even  the  pearl  head-dress  that 
adorned  the  head  of  Catherine  II.  at  her  coronation,  finds  a  home  here 
as  an  ornament  on  a  priestly  vestment."  Here  I  saw  several  very  great 
curiosities  :  a  crown,  presented  by  the  Empress  Elizabeth,  filled  with 
diamonds  of  the  largest  size ;  three,  if  not  four,  of  which  are  worthy  a 
place  in  any  monarch's  crown.  Another  curiosity  is  a  crucifix  contain- 
ing a  Siberian  aqua  marine.  There  is  also  a  natural  cross  made  by  two 
white  veins  at  right  angles  in  a  piece  of  jasper,  and  an  agate  in  which 
there  seems  to  be  a  monk  bowing  before  a  crucifix.  It  is  a  marvellous 
contrast  to  see  all  this  magnificence,  and  then  see  "  the  wooden  vessels 
and  coarse  woollen  robes  of  the  founder,  more  highly  esteemed  by  the 
pilgrims  than  the  rich  vestments  of  his  successors." 

After  finishing  the  tour  of  the  churches,  I  rode  to  what  is  called 
Gethsemane,  a  retreat  about  a  mile  and  a  half  distant.  Nothing  special 
was  to  be  seen  there,  but  not  very  far  off  were  catacombs,  into  which 
we  descended,  and  below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  where  the  light  of  day 
never  reaches,  I  found  a  chapel,  apparently  hewn  out  of  solid  rock,  in 
which  a  gorgeously  attired  priest  was  celebrating  the  service,  while  two 
greasy-looking  monks  —  one  singing  soprano,  and  the  other  bass  —  were 
making  the  responses.  The  persons  who  were  paying  for  these  services 
were  present,  listening  to  them,  and  appeared  to  be  fulfilling  a  vow. 

I  went  on,  under  the  guidance  of  a  monk,  down  through  dark  and 
gloomy  corridors,  into  the  catacombs,  where  human  beings  who  have 


262  "THE   CANTERBURY   OF    RUSSIA." 

solemnly  vowed  never  more  to  gaze  upon  the  light  of  day,  are  living. 
There  is  a  rich  merchant  of  Moscow,  who,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six,  surren- 
dered all  his  property  to  the  monastery,  had  a  cell  built  for  him  far  under 
ground,  and  vowed  never  to  come  forth  again  to  the  world,  and  there  he 
has  lived  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  I  examined  his  cell,  which 
is  smaller  than  an  ordinary  closet  connected  with  a  sleeping-room,  in  an 
American  house,  and  has  no  means  of  ventilation  whatever,  except  the 
door,  which  opens  into  an  underground  corridor.  In  this  cell  he  sleeps 
upon  an  iron  bedstead  not  long  enough  for  a  man  to  lie  straight  upon, 
and  never  goes  out  to  behold  the  sun,  moon,  or  stars.  The  poor  recluse 
darted  in  and  out  while  I  was  there,  and  presented  a  prayer  to  the  Rus- 
sian who  accompanied  me  from  Moscow,  which  he  afterward  translated 
to  me.  It  was  in  substance  this  : 

"The  prayer  of  him  who  withdraweth  from  the  world  to  the  great 
God  of  heaven  and  earth,  that  he  may  teach  men  the  vanity  of  time,  the 
measurelessness  of  eternity,  the  depth  of  human  wickedness,  the  folly 
of  human  attachments,  the  mystery  of  human  sins,  murders,  malice  of 
men,  hate,  the  mighty  achievements  of  God's  power,  and  the  myriad 
mistakes  of  selfish  and  malignant  devils  who  seek  to  deceive  the  very 
elect  of  God,  but  whom  fasting  and  prayer  can  always  eject  if  they  be  in 
due  proportion,  whereby  young  men  may  find  their  way  cleansed  and 
old  men  their  hearts  strengthened." 

This  is  not  a  literal  translation  of  the  prayer,  but  is  my  recollection  of 
the  substance  and  many  of  the  words  used  by  the  English-speaking 
Russian  in  trying  to  turn  it  into  English. 

The  old  gentleman  looked  much  like  a  lunatic  of  a  mild  type.  I  sup- 
pose his  lunacy  had  not  become  complete  because  of  the  necessary  per- 
formance of  tasks  at  set  intervals.  Frequently  these  tasks  are  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  break  up  that  peculiarly  absorbed  state  which,  in  individuals 
of  weakening  brain  without  regular  occupation,  hastens  on  to  dementia. 

Far  on  beyond  these  catacombs  are  others  much  worse,  where  the  cells 
are  surrounded  by  wooden  walls,  but  I  was  informed  that  there  were  no 
monks  living  in  them  at  that  time. 


"THE   CANTERBURY   OF    RUSSIA."  263 

In  this  famous  and  wealthy  monastery  many  of  the  monks  seemed  to 
possess  learning  and  culture.  I  had  the  opportunity  of  observing  their 
intercourse  with  each  other  when  they  were  not  aware  that  they  were 
noticed  by  a  stranger.  One  very  handsome  old  gentleman,  dressed  in 
black  from  head  to  foot,  with  long  hair  and  beard,  approached  a  group 
of  six  or  seven  who  were  talking  very  pleasantly,  and  as  he  joined  the 
group,  kissed  them  all.  (The  priests  of  the  Greek  Church  in  Russia, 
unlike  those  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  never  shave,  nor  cut  their 
hair ;  this  is  traceable  to  the  old  idea  of  the  Nazarites  ;  their  beards 
are  very  long,  and  their  hair  also.) 

Subsequently  I  noticed  several  groups,  and  when  any  monk  ap- 
proached kissing  was  the  method  of  salutation,  preceded  by  a  number  of 
bows.  The  high  officials  were  treated  with  marked  courtesy,  and  some 
of  them  wore  very  heavy  gold  ornaments  and  gold  keys  tied  outside  of 
their  black  garments. 

Many  others  of  the  monks  were  very  dirty  and  filthy.  Those  whom 
I  saw  at  the  catacombs  were  as  dirty  and  disconsolate  wretches  as  I 
remember  to  have  met  except  in  the  more  filthy  parts  of  the  city  of 
Cork.  Some  of  them  have  the  spirit  of  anchorites,  and  are  dirty  on 
principle.  The  accumulated  dirt  at  the  retreat  called  Gethsemane,  and 
the  resultant  odors,  made  an  impression  upon  the  two  senses  of  sight  and 
smell  which  the  impression  made  upon  the  ear  by  the  fine  music,  could 
not  antagonize  sufficiently  to  leave  a  residuum  of  pleasant  emotions. 
Murray's  guide-book  gives  the  following  hint  with  respect  to  the  dirt 
in  this  retreat :  "  The  following  impressive  proverb,  written  over  the 
house  of  Archbishop  Plato,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  monastery,  may  be 
regarded  as  a  useful  hint  to  visitors  :  '  Let  not  him  who  comes  in  here 
carry  out  the  dirt  that  he  finds  within.'  ' 

A  large  business  was  done  there  in  selling  curious  toys,  spoons  of 
wood,  little  crosses,  and  other  tokens  which  pilgrims  love  to  purchase. 
Also,  holy  bread,  baked  by  the  monks,  was  sold  at  a  high  price.  I 
purchased  two  or  three  rolls,  and  ate  them  as  a  luncheon  upon  the  cars. 
Considered  as  bread,  they  were  good.  Considered  as  made  by  the  monks 


264  "THE  CANTERBURY   OF    RUSSIA." 

that  I  saw,  they  were  suspicious ;  but  not  more  so  than  every  cooked 
thing  that  I  ate,  except  in  private  English  families,  in  Russia.  In  these 
matters  the  traveller  must  walk  by  faith,  and  leave  to  nature  the  work  of 
eliminating  from  the  mass  of  dubious  matter  he  swallows  that  which  will 
not  sustain  life. 

It  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  judge  with  any  certainty  a  man's 
intellectuality  by  his  appearance.  Still,  if  a  large  number  of  men  are 
observed,  many  of  the  intellectual  among  them  have  an  expression  in 
harmony  with  their  character.  The  same  is  true  of  the  stupid.  Among 
these  monks  a-  few  were  seen  who  had  an  astute  appearance,  but  the 
great  majority  appeared  either  like  dullards  or  overgrown  and  vivacious 
children.  Only  here  and  there  was  one  who  seemed  as  if  he  might  have 
done  any  earnest  or  prolonged  thinking.  But  all  appeared  to  have  good 
voices.  The  grand  tones  of  some,  and  the  sweet,  flute-like  voices  of 
others,  could  only  have  been  the  result  of  a  hereditary  endowment  com- 
bined with  long  practice. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

THE     GREAT     FAIR     AT     NIJNI-NOVGOROD. 

IN  the  chapter  upon  the  journey  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Moscow, 
an  account  was  given  of  Novgorod  the  Great,  which  held  such 
an  important  position  for  several  centuries  in  the  early  history  of  the 
Russian  Empire.  The  meaning  of  Nijni  (spelled  in  three  ways  :  Nizhni, 
Nischni,  and  Nijni)  is  lower,  and  Nijni-Novgorod  is  simply  Lower  Nov- 
gorod, to  distinguish  it  from  that  Novgorod  which  was  exalted  in  the 
ancient  proverbial  expression,  "Who  can  resist  God  and  the  Great 
Novgorod  ?  "  and  which  went  by  the  name  of  the  "  Lord  Great  Novgo- 
rod." 

The  city  of  Nijni-Novgorod  is  the  capital  town  of  the  province  of  the 
same  name.  During  the  first  two  hundred  years  of  its  history  it  was 
independent,  but  since  the  close  of  that  period  it  has  shared  the  fort- 
unes of  Moscow.  It  is  two  hundred  and  seventy-three  miles  by  railway, 
slightly  north  of  east  of  Moscow,  and  is  in  the  very  centre  of  Eu- 
ropean Russia.  Its  chief  interest  —  sufficient  to  abundantly  reward  the 
visitor — is  in  the  great  fair  which  is  held  there  between  the  fifteenth  of 
July  of  our  style,  and  the  tenth  of  September. 

The  railway  from  Moscow  passes  through  the  very  important  and  his- 
toric town  of  Vladimir.  This  ancient  city  is  one  hundred  and  eighteen 
miles  from  Moscow,  and  though  it  has  only  fifteen  thousand  inhabitants, 
it  contains  twenty-two  remarkable  churches.  It  stands  in  the  centre  of 
one  of  the  richest  provinces  of  Russia  in  agriculture  and  manufactures. 
Here  many  a  battle  was  fought  with  the  Tartars. 

It  was  once  the  scene  of  a  terrible  outrage.  When  the  Tartars  took 
the  city  about  six  hundred  years  ago,  the  Princess  of  Vladimir,  with  her 
three  sons  and  daughter,  as  well  as  the  bishop,  many  ministers,  and 

265 


266  THE   GREAT   FAIR   AT   NIJNI-NOVGOROD. 

nobles,  took  refuge  in  the  cathedral.  But  the  Tartars  piled  wood  about 
it,  and  burned  the  building  and  all  that  were  in  it.  For  many  years, 
however,  the  restored  cathedral  was  the  most  important  church  in 
Russia.  A  Russian  traveller  tried  to  persuade  me  to  break  the  journey 
at  this  point,  declaring  that  it  would  repay  me,  and  spoke  of  the  antiqui- 
ties, some  fine  pictures,  the  relics  of  saints,  and  extraordinary  carved 
work  upon  the  walls  of  one  of  the  cathedrals.  But  in  Russia,  as  else- 
where, one  must  make  a  selection,  and  I  contented  myself  with  viewing 
the  city  from  afar. 

Nijni-Novgorod  was  reached  about  ten  in  the  morning.  Its  situation 
is  romantic;  at  the  junction  of  two  great  rivers  —  the  Volga  and  the 
Oka.  On  arriving  we  made  arrangements  for  a  thorough  exploration  of 
the  town  and  of  the  fair.  The  courier  whom  we  took  with  us  from 
Moscow  seemed  as  familiar  with  Nijni-Novgorod  as  if  he  had  lived  there 
all  his  life,  which  was  natural  enough,  as  for  eighteen  or  twenty  years 
he  had  been  in  the  habit  of  conducting  parties  of  all  nationalities  to  this, 
the  greatest  fair  in  the  world. 

Formerly  there  was  a  tower  called  Muraevief's  tower,  on  the  summit 
of  the  hill,  reached  by  a  path  through  the  narrow  and  steep  ravine. 
The  elevation  of  the  top  of  the  tower  above  the  level  of  the  river  was 
five  or  six  hundred  feet,  as  it  stood  upon  a  hill  something  over  four 
hundred  feet  in  height.  Having  read  of  this  tower,  I  anticipated  a  mag- 
nificent view  from  it,  but  on  reaching  the  site  found  that  it  had  become 
unsafe,  and  had  been  taken  down  with  the  exception  of  the  foundation, 
which  was,  perhaps,  forty  feet  high.  To  the  summit  of  that,  over  some 
rickety  steps,  we  climbed,  and  beheld  a  picturesque  panorama.  The 
following  passage,  written  by  one  who  had  often  observed  it,  is  just  : 
"  The  fair  spreads  out  like  a  vast  town  of  shops,  on  a  triangular  piece  of 
ground  between  the  Oka  and  the  Volga,  which  can  be  traced  here  for 
many  miles,  with  its  steamers  like  so  many  straws  floating  swiftly  down 
to  the  distant  Caspian,  fourteen  hundred  miles  beyond.  The  forest  of 
masts  looks  like  a  floating  town,  and  covers  the  surface  of  the  broad  Oka 
almost  completely.  .  .  .  In  an  opposite  direction  the  traveller  will 


THE   GREAT   FAIR   AT   NIJNI-NOVGOROD.  267 

survey  with  interest  the  low-arched  gates,  whitewashed  towers,  and 
the  crenelated  walls  of  the  ancient  Kremlin,  while  the  gay  roofs  of  the 
houses  appearing  amid  the  thick  green  foliage  of  numerous  gardens, 
afford  both  beauty  and  diversity  to  the  landscape." 

From  this  point  we  drove  to  a  terrace  built  by  the  Emperor  Nicholas, 
from  which  a  view  could  be  seen  only  to  be  compared  with  those  to  be 
observed  upon  the  great  prairies  of  the  West.  The  immense  plain, 
through  which  the  River  Volga  runs,  with  here  and  there  a  few  trees, 
having  nothing  to  obstruct  the  eye  to  the  very  remotest  bounds  of  the 
horizon,  presents  an  appearance  not  to  be  seen  on  the  continent  of 
Europe  out  of  Russia.  Like  all  great  rivers  running  through  flat  coun- 
tries (except  in  such  cases  as  that  of  the  Arkansas  River,  which  runs 
over  a  bed  of  sand,  the  subsoil  on  either  side  of  the  stream  being  the 
same  for  a  great  distance)  the  Volga  frequently  overflows  its  banks,  and 
transforms  many  square  miles  into  temporary  lakes. 

I  tried  hard  to  secure  a  ride  upon  the  Volga  in  a  steamboat,  but 
none  could  be  found  whose  time  of  departing  suited  our  purposes.  Not 
to  be  disappointed  entirely,  we  hired  a  rowboat  and  a  couple  of  powerful 
Tartars  as  oarsmen.  Leaving  one  of  the  ladies  who  had  joined  us,  with 
my  son,  the  courier,  two  of  the  ladies,  and  myself  had  a  very  enjoyable 
ride  down  the  Oka  until  it  flows  into  the  Volga.  We  then  passed  on  a 
half  or  two  thirds  of  a  mile  further  south,  and  returned,  threading  our 
way  through  almost  countless  steamboats,  quaint  barges,  and  craft  of  all 
kinds. 

Perceiving  some  very  large  and  handsome  steamboats,  I  saw  their 
Russian  names  extending  almost  from  one  end  of  the  boat  to  the  other, 
and  asked  the  courier  what  they  were.  To  my  surprise  and  pleasure  he 
answered:  "The  first  is  Louisiana,  and  the  second  Mississippi"  Said 
I,  "  How  do  they  come  to  have  boats  named  after  American  States 
here  ? "  "O,"  replied  he,  "those  boats  are  made  on  the  American  plan. 
They  are  exactly  like  the  boats  that  are  on  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio 
Rivers,  and  some  of  them  were  made  in  the  United  States,  and  brought 
over  here  to  the  owner,  who  has  been  very  prosperous  in  his  enterprise, 


268  THE   GREAT   FAIR   AT   NIJNI-NOVGOROD. 

and  has  retained  the  names  of  the  American  States."  Here,  again,  the 
American  is  reminded  of  his  country.  In  Sweden  the  largest  locomo- 
tive is  called  the  Washington  ;  so  in  Russia  the  finest  steamers  are  made 
upon  the  American  principle,  and  bear  American  names. 

It  was  interesting  to  see  how  vigorously  the  Tartars  rowed,  and  how 
thankful  the  poor  fellows  were  for  the  extra  sum  which  we  gave  them. 
Perhaps  they  earned  more  in  taking  us  our  ride  of  five  or  six  miles  upon 
the  Volga  and  Oka,  which  did  not  consume  more  than  two  hours,  than 
they  could  have  earned  under  ordinary  circumstances,  in  several  days' 
work. 

Nijni-Novgorod,  with  its  population  of  less  than  sixty  thousand,  has 
more  than  fifty  churches  of  the  Russian  communion,  besides  eight 
belonging  to  other  Christian  bodies.  We  attended  service  in  one  of  the 
largest  and  oldest,  and  heard  the  Archimandrite  (next  in  dignity  below 
Bishop)  preach  a  sermon.  Of  this  he  uttered  every  word  without  any 
pretence  of  oratory,  but  in  a  high,  vehement,  and  excited  tone.  The 
courier  said  that  it  consisted  principally  of  an  exhortation  to  the  people 
to  behave  themselves,  and  to  remember  that,  if  they  did  not,  they  would 
not,  "in  the  long  run,"  make  anything  in  this  life,  and  they  would  be 
damned  in  eternity.  Orthodox  doctrine,  surely,  but  it  was  received  by 
the  crowd  without  the  slightest  appearance  of  interest.  It  was  a  most 
complete  illustration  of  the  common  habit  of  taking  a  sermon,  as  a  ser- 
mon, without  any  care  as  to  its  meaning. 

The  Mohammedan  mosque  of  Nijni  is  in  a  very  conspicuous  place,  but 
is  an  inferior  building.  We  were  allowed  to  enter  and  explore  it,  no 
service  being  in  progress.  It  is  simply  an  empty  house,  with  here  and 
there  a  piece  of  carpet,  and  answers  the  description,  on  a  smaller  scale, 
of  the  mosque  at  Moscow. 

The  Armenian  church  is  a  much  finer  building,  contains  some  beauti- 
ful paintings,  and  its  priests  appeared  to  be  intelligent  and  gentlemanly. 
Our  efforts  to  converse  with  them  were  reciprocated,  and  with  a 
little  English,  a  little  German,  and  a  little  Latin,  we  managed  to  make 
ourselves  tolerably  understood.  The  animated  gestures  of  the  Arme- 


NIJNI-NOVGOROD. 


THE   GREAT   FAIR   AT   NIJNI-NOVGOROD.  271 

nian  priests  greatly  assisted  the  process.  One  of  them,  a  tall,  magnifi- 
cent-looking man,  appeared  to  be  almost  a  master  of  the  sign  language. 
I  was  able  to  make  him  understand  that  I  came  from  New  York,  that  I 
was  a  Christian  and  a  Protestant,  and  travelling,  not  upon  business,  but 
for  pleasure,  and  what  I  could  learn.  He  made  me  understand  that  he 
was  an  Armenian,  that  he  came  there  by  appointment,  had  been  there  a 
few  years,  and  that  during  the  fair  hundreds  of  Armenians  were  there, 
and  that  many  resided  there  at  all  times. 


CHAPTER   XXX. 
NIJNI-NOVGOROD  (continued). 

THE  accommodations  in  Nijni-Novgorod  during  the  fair  are  very 
unsatisfactory.  Most  of  the  restaurants  are  unfit  for  ladies. 
Many  of  them  employ  singing  women  of  a  very  immodest  class,  and  have 
a  general  air  of  indecency.  Hotels  are  crowded,  and  travellers  are 
liable  to  be  attacked  "by  insects  of  a  vexatory  disposition."  For  these 
reasons  foreigners  generally  take  the  night-train  from  Moscow,  spend 
the  day  in  visiting  the  fair,  and  then  take  the  night-express  back  —  a 
very  laborious  journey. 

Three  fairs  are  held  at  Nijni  every  year  :  one,  in  January,  is  held  on 
the  frozen  river,  and  consists  chiefly  of  articles  made  of  wood,  toys, 
boxes,  etc. ;  another  is  held  in  July,  devoted  almost  exclusively  to  the 
sale  and  exchange  of  horses.  But  the  great  fair  —  not  only  the  greatest 
regular  fair  in  Russia,  but  in  the  world  —  is  held  in  August  and  Septem- 
ber, and  is  known  by  the  name  of  Peter  and  Paul.  At  this  fair,  lasting 
less  than  two  months,  more  than  eighty  million  dollars  worth  of  prop- 
erty has  been  disposed  of.  Nearly  two  hundred  thousand  traders  assem- 
ble each  day. 

The  population  is  estimated  in  a  very  peculiar  manner.  The  bakers 
are  required  by  law  to  make  daily  returns  of  the  quantity  of  bread  they 
sell.  This  gives  an  approximate  estimate  of  the  daily  population.  The 
multitudes  crossing  the  bridges,  the  long  strings  of  carts,  great  crowds 
of  workmen,  of  pedlers  of  skins  and  refreshments,  the  monks,  includ- 
ing those  among  the  crowd  collecting  copecks,  scrofulous  beggars,  dense 
crowds  of  people  assembled  in  front  of  cheap  theatres,  where  a  play  is 
going  on  inside  and  clowns  acting  on  the  balcony  outside,  made  a 

very  curious  spectacle. 

272 


NIJNI-NOVGOROD.  273 

• 

The  fair  is  divided  into  quarters.  On  one  side  is  the  Chinese  quar- 
ter, on  another  the  Persian  quarter,  in  another  section  the  Armenian 
quarter.  One  solid  mile  of  shops  is  devoted  entirely  to  iron,  much  of 
which  has  been  brought,  down  the  River  Kama,  and  up  the  River  Volga, 
from  Siberia.  The  Chinese  quarter  does  not  now  contain  many  Chinese. 
Indeed,  I  saw  none.  It  is  devoted  principally  to  the  sale  of  tea,  and  the 
dealers  are  Germans  and  Russians.  Many  years  ago  no  tea  could  be 
sold  at  Nijni-Novgorod  unless  it  had  been  brought  overland  from  China. 
That  prohibition  has  been  repealed,  so  that  tea  can  now  be  brought  by 
sea.  I  was  told  that  two  kinds  of  tea  can  be  bought  here  that  are  sel- 
dom, if  ever,  seen  outside  of  Asia  and  Russia ;  namely,  "  yellow  and 
brick  tea.  The  former  is  of  a  delicious  flavor,  very  pale,  and  injurious  to 
the  nerves  if  taken  frequently.  It  is  handed  around  after  dinner  in  lieu 
of  coffee.  The  brick  tea  is  consumed  by  the  Calmuck  and  the  Kirghizes 
of  the  steppe."  The  yellow  I  tasted ;  the  brick  tea  I  did  not  see. 

The  Siberian  line  runs  along  the  Volga,  and  is  made  up  of  warehouses 
for  tea,  cotton,  iron  and  rags.  The  wharves  at  this  fair  are  ten  miles 
long  on  the  two  rivers.  In  the  centre  is  the  Governor's  house,  at  which 
there  is  a  restaurant,  where  the  meals  are  good,  and  the  morals  low. 
A  crowd  of  women  of  doubtful  reputation  are  employed  to  sing  during 
the  meals,  and  toward  the  close  of  the  day  they  become  loose  in  their 
conduct. 

Underneath  the  Governor's  house  is  a  bazaar,  in  which  a  magnificent 
assortment  of  fancy  goods  and  manufactured  goods  is  exposed  for  sale. 
Many  Armenians,  with  their  long  beards  and  peculiar  dress,  were  seen 
manufacturing  or  trading.  The  Tartars  were  there  in  great  numbers, 
and  men  from  Bokhara  and  Khiva.  The  Persian  quarter  was  the  most 
satisfactory  with  regard  to  the  number  of  natives  engaged  in  trading. 
Stalls  containing  silks  from  Persia,  precious  stones  from  Bokhara, 
geological  specimens  and  cut  stones  from  Siberia,  could  be  stumbled 
upon  almost  anywhere.  Silversmiths,  furriers  and  drapers  were  very 
numerous.  The  courier  told  us  that  the  only  way  to  buy  without 
being  swindled  was  to  offer  one  half  the  sum  asked,  and  come  very 


274  NIJNI-NOVGOROD. 

gradually  to  the  conclusion.  Also,  that  the  visitor  must  never  say  that 
he  is  going  to  buy  anything  until  he  has  picked  out  and  inquired  the 
price  of  all  the  articles,  for  if  the  dealer  finds  out  that  he  intends  to 
offer  only  a  part  of  the  price  asked  for  the  goods,  he  will  increase  his 
demands  in  proportion.  In  that  the  courier  agreed  with  all  the  guide- 
books. Many  German  traders  in  Nijni-Novgorod  have  adopted  the  one- 
price  principle. 

Toward  night  tents  are  erected  in  every  direction  to  accommodate  the 
population.  The  wonder  is,  with  the  clouds  of  dust,  the  muddy  streets, 
the  frequent  intense  heat,  the  changes  of  temperature,  and  the  vast  accu- 
mulations of  refuse,  that  the  health  of  the  place  can  be  maintained.  But 
great  pains  are  taken  to  counteract  the  evil  tendencies.  Underneath 
the  fair  are  stone  sewers.  These  are  large,  vaulted  passages,  through 
which  water  is  pumped  several  times  a  day,  fresh  from  the  river. 
The  whole  fair  is  also  surrounded  by  a  canal,  as  a  protection  against 
fire. 

There  are  a  thousand  steamers  on  the  Volga,  the  Kama,  and  the  Oka. 
Every  sort  of  vessel  can  be  seen,  from  the  ancient  craft  of  the  style  of 
three  hundred  years  ago,  and  huge  floating  machines  for  towing  the  ves- 
sels down,  to  the  modern  steamers,  such  as  I  have  described,  or  the 
impudent  little  steam-tugs  puffing  through  the  water.  The  stevedores 
along  the  shores  are  all  Tartars,  of  apparently  great  physical  strength. 
Cossacks  can  be  seen  on  horseback  carrying  messages  and  moving 
about.  A  specimen  of  every  nation  in  Europe  and  Asia,  and  every 
thing  that  "the  earth  yields  or  industry  produces,"  can  be  seen  there. 
This  fair  differs  from  the  World's  Expositions  in  that  at  those  the  for- 
eigners appear  as  if  they  were  conscious  of  being  on  exhibition.  Here 
they  are  comparatively  near  home,  having  either  come  entirely  by  land 
or  by  water. 

From  this  point  it  is  possible  to  go  to  the  United  States  without 
crossing  the  ocean  ;  across  Asia  and  across  Behring  Strait,  frozen  dur- 
ing a  part  of  the  year,  down  through  Alaska  and  British  Columbia  to 
our  own  country. 


NIJNI-NOVGOROD.  275 

An  old  traveller  claimed  to  have  made  the  tour,  but  there  was  an  air 
of  extravagance  about  him  and  a  want  of  coherence  in  some  of  his  state- 
ments which  raised  doubts  as  to  the  truth  thereof. 

From  Nijni-Novgorod  I  returned  to  Moscow,  and  remained  there 
several  days,  spending  most  of  the  time  in  making  preparations  to  visit 
Poland.  The  description  of  the  chief  part  of  what  was  seen  has  already 
been  incorporated  in  the  chapters  on  Moscow. 


CHAPTER   XXXI. 

UNHAPPY    POLAND. 

WHEN  the  time  came  to  take  final  leave  of  Moscow,  I  found 
myself  quite  willing  to  depart.  It  is  not  what  the  late  Bayard 
Taylor  would  call  a  homelike  city.  In  many  places  the  traveller  thinks 
within  himself,  "  Here  I  could  settle  for  a  term  of  months  or  years, 
and  even  contemplate  a  permanent  residence  with  pleasure."  No  such 
thought  occurred  to  me  in  Moscow.  It  is  a  place  to  see,  to  study,  and 
—  to  leave,  but  not  a  place  to  be  enjoyed,  except  by  Russians.  The 
foreigners  resident  there  with  whom  I  conversed  spoke  of  it  in  a  spirit 
similar  to  that  which  characterizes  the  foreigner  doing  business  on  the 
Isthmus  of  Panama.  Some  are  there  for  the  money  they  make,  and  the 
rest  because  they  cannot  get  away. 

But  Russian  life  has  clothed  itself  in  forms  adapted  to  it,  and  the  very 
elements  whether  of  climate,  food,  manners,  or  religion,  with  which 
the  traveller  from  Western  Europe  or  from  America  cannot  assimilate, 
make  it  dear  and  holy  to  the  heart  of  every  Russian  not  infected  with 
the  virus  of  Nihilism. 

The  distance  from  Moscow  to  Warsaw  is  seven  hundred  miles.  The 
railway  is  not  very  good,  and  till  recently  it  has  been  a  fashion  for  trav- 
ellers visiting  Moscow  who  intended  to  go  from  that  place  to  Central 
Europe,  to  return  to  St.  Petersburg,  and  proceed  thence  by  way  of  Ber- 
lin or  Vienna,  to  Warsaw.  This  custom  is  stimulated  in  the  hotels  of 
St.  Petersburg  by  representing  in  exaggerated  colors  to  travellers,  the 
hardships  of  the  journey  from  Moscow  to  Warsaw. 

To  return  over  the  same  route  is  not  pleasant,  unless  the  scenery  be 
picturesque.  Nor  should  an  American  accustomed  to  our  long  journeys 
by  rail,  quail  before  one  of  seven  hundred  miles.  Inquiry  showed  that 

276 


UNHAPPY    POLAND.  279 

nothing  unusual  had  to  be  endured,  save  the  constant  bumping  for  thirty- 
nine  hours.  A  sleeping-car  could  be  obtained,  such  as  it  was,  and  a 
compartment,  by  travelling  first-class,  could  be  occupied  exclusively  by 
two  or  four  persons. 

I  requested  the  courier  whom  we  had  employed  for  some  weeks  to 
secure  us  the  very  best  compartment,  which  gave  rise  to  an  amusing 
scene. 

At  no  time  since  it  occurred  has  the  recollection  failed  to  excite  mirth. 
When  we  reached  the  station  it  was  ascertained  that  there  was  but  one 
through  car  from  Moscow  to  Warsaw.  This  car  contained  two  first  and 
two  second-class  compartments.  Way  passengers  would  get  in  and  out 
of  the  second-class  compartments,  nor  were  there  any  arrangements  for 
sleeping  in  those  compartments.  Of  the  two  first-class  compartments, 
one  was  much  better  than  the  other,  having  two  beds  upon  which  a  man 
could  lie  at  full  length,  besides  a  large  sofa  and  a  table ;  and  the  beds 
could  be  so  made  that  the  occupant  could  lie  in  the  same  manner  as  in 
the  Pullman  cars.  In  the  other  there  were  only  two  sofas  extending 
from  side  to  side. 

Our  courier  determined  that  my  son  and  myself  should  have  the  bet- 
ter of  these  compartments.  He  observed  three  American  ladies,  accom- 
panied by  a  general  courier  whom  they  had  employed  in  Paris,  and 
noted  that  they  bought  tickets  first-class  for  Warsaw.  General  couriers 
are  not  in  favor  with  local  couriers,  and  ours  determined  to  circumvent 
the  foreigner,  who  could  speak  very  little  Russian,  though  he  spoke 
French,  German  and  English. 

I  was  content  to  occupy  the  r61e  of  a  spectator,  as  all  the  transactions 
were  beyond  my  depth.  Two  porters  were  in  charge  of  our  baggage, 
which  consisted  of  six  pieces,  and  had  crowded  up  near  the  door  which 
opened  upon  the  platform.  The  foreign  courier  tried  to  pass  them,  but 
as  he  crowded  upon  porter  number  one,  porter  number  two  was  in  his 
way,  and  this  struggle  continued  for  some  minutes,  until  he  saw  that  he 
must  stand  behind  the  two  porters.  At  last  the  door  opened,  and  a  race 
began  down  the  platform  between  these  porters  and  the  foreign  courier. 


280  UNHAPPY    POLAND. 

The  latter  had  the  disadvantage  of  not  knowing  exactly  which  the  car 
was.  But  he  had  the  advantage  of  not  being  laden  with  baggage.  It 
was  a  lively  scene,  but  the  porters  understood  themselves.  One  started 
for  one  end  of  the  car,  and  the  other  for  the  other  end,  both  being  a  little 
in  advance  of  the  courier.  As  they  got  on  the  platform  they  intention- 
ally fell  headlong  with  the  baggage  in  front  of  them  at  each  end,  so  that 
it  was  utterly  impossible  for  their  competitor  to  get  ahead  of  them  in 
any  way.  He  attempted  to  do  so,  and  they  howled  at  him  in  Russian, 
and  he  answered  back  in  two  or  three  languages.  All  used  language 
which  could  hardly  be  justified  upon  religious  grounds.  Meanwhile,  the 
courier  who  had  us  in  charge  had  arrived,  passed  the  porters  without 
difficulty,  selected  for  us  the  finer  room  of  the  two,  and  had  our  baggage 
deposited  in  it.  The  rush  of  the  porters,  their  headlong  tumble,  their 
masterly  capture  of  both  ends  of  the  car,  their  apparent  wrath  covering 
real  "  cuteness  "  and  good  humor,  made  a  scene  which  was  all  the  more 
amusing  because  we  could  always  tell  what  they  meant  without  being 
able  to  understand  a  word  of  what  they  said. 

After  travelling  for  some  distance,  we  found  that  every  passenger  in 
the  through  car  was  an  American.  In  one  of  the  compartments  were  a 
United  States  consul  and  his  wife,  who  had  been  for  some  time  in  Rus- 
sia, and  were  on  their  way  back  to  his  official  residence  at  Sonneberg,  on 
the  borders  of  the  Thuringian  forest.  I  was  much  pleased  to  find  that 
the  consul  was  Mr.  Mosher,  for  some  years  editor  of  the  "Morning 
Star,"  the  highly  respectable  organ  of  the  Free  Will  Baptist  Denomina- 
tion. To  find  that  each  knew  many  persons  with  whom  the  other  was 
well  acquainted,  was,  as  every  traveller  can  imagine,  an  episode  very 
pleasant,  from  the  fact  that  they  were  the  first  American  travellers  I  had 
met  in  Russia. 

The  road  from  Moscow  to  Warsaw  lies  through  a  very  unattractive 
country.  Nothing  appeared  to  detain  the  eye  as  the  train  bore  us  on,  now 
over  a  vast  expanse  of  not  very  fertile  prairie,  then  through  a  country 
thickly  wooded,  the  gloomy  fir  and  the  not-cheerful  beech  being  the  only 
trees  of  which  the  forests  are  made. 


UNHAPPY    POLAND.  281 

Smolensk  is  a  city  of  great  importance,  whose  name  constantly 
recurs  in  all  the  critical  periods  of  Russian  history  and  that  of  adja- 
cent countries.  Its  history,  like  that  of  Kief,  Moscow,  Novgorod,  and 
the  other  more  ancient  cities  of  Russia,  has  been  one  of  war,  confla- 
gration, plague,  and  famine.  In  1404,  after  the  siege  of  the  city  by 
Vitovt,  Prince  of  Lithuania,  there  was  a  frightful  famine,  in  which  the 
people  devoured  one  another,  and  "  dogs  were  seen  in  the  streets  feeding 
off  human  bones."  Never  till  1686  were  the  city  and  province  thor- 
oughly incorporated  with  Russia,  and  the  process  of  "  Russification " 
made  complete.  During  Napoleon's  advance  the  city  was  almost  utterly 
destroyed. 

The  beautiful  Dnieper  flows  between  the  grass-covered  hills  on  which 
the  city  rests.  From  all  that  I  could  ascertain,  it  did  not  seem  im- 
portant to  break  the  journey  at  this  point,  especially  as  the  fine  room 
which  the  porters  had  secured  for  us  would  be  lost  by  so  doing, 
and  the  time  of  departure  would  be  at  a  very  unpleasant  hour  Another 
reason  compelled  haste.  The  time  of  the  Tsar's  visit  to  Warsaw  was 
approaching.  The  traveller  was  exposed  to  suspicion  and  to  many 
detentions,  and  an  atmosphere  of  uncertainty  surrounded  every  move- 
ment. 

At  last  we  reached  Warsaw,  the  capital  of  unhappy  Poland,  entering 
it  by  the  suburb  of  Praga.  This  necessitated  a  ride  across  the  beautiful 
iron  bridge  over  the  River  Vistula.  The  architect  of  this  bridge  was 
the  same  who  constructed  the  Nicholas  Bridge  over  the  Neva,  St. 
Petersburg.  It  is  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  ninety  feet  long, 
and  "was  built  on  six  trusses  on  the  American  principle." 

While  in  the  city  I  visited  this  bridge  two  or  three  times,  to  get  a 
view  of  the  river  and  the  islands  in  it,  on  some  of  which  are  fine  resi- 
dences. 

At  Warsaw,  quartered  at  the  Grand  Hotel  de  1'Europe,  I  received  a 
letter  from  Bishop  Hurst,  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  in  which  he  spoke  of  the 
gloom  which  took  possession  of  him  as  he  visited  Poland  fourteen  years 
before,  and  said  that,  as  he  remembered  it,  the  hotel  was  a  fair  type  of 


282  UNHAPPY    POLAND. 

the  city,  and  the  city  of  the  history  of  the  country.  His  recollection 
was  correct ;  for  never  have  I  seen  so  gloomy  a  hotel  as  the  Grand  Hotel 
de  1' Europe  of  Warsaw.  I  have  visited  penitentiaries,  lunatic  asylums, 
convents,  monasteries,  almshouses  and  woollen  mills  that  were  more 
cheerful  and  better  fitted  in  location,  light,  and  odors  for  a  pleasant 
habitation  than  this. 

Our  courier  in  Warsaw  was  a  curiosity.  As  a  talker,  considered  with 
reference  to  the  quantity  and  enthusiasm  of  his  utterances,  as  a  mag- 
nifier of  his  office,  and  a  chanter  of  the  praises  of  Warsaw,  he  was 
unequaled.  He  had  as  many,  and  as  horrible  tales  to  tell,  as  the 
"  King  of  the  Cannibal  Islands  "  ;  left  no  room  for  the  traveller  to  as- 
similate, make  notes,  or  reflect  upon  anything  that  he  said,  and  poured 
in  a  steady  stream  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  of  the 
same.  He  came  near  being  an  intolerable  bore,  but  escaped  it  by  the 
redeeming  quality  of  knowing  what  he  was  talking  about. 

Guided  by  him,  I  traversed  the  entire  city.  As  a  whole,  it  resembles 
an  ancient  estate  in  chancery,  under  the  care  of  executors  content 
merely  to  prevent  it  from  falling  to  pieces.  There  are  evidences  in 
every  direction  of  former  wealth,  and  even  of  present  prosperity ;  but 
there  is  an  indescribable  air  of  antiquity,  despondency,  and  slow  decay 
pervading  most  parts  of  the  city. 

In  the  cathedral  is  a  monument  by  Thorwaldsen,  of  the  Count  Malak- 
hovski,  who  presided  over  the  celebrated  Diet  which  drew  up  the  Con- 
stitution of  May  3,  1792.  He  is  called  "the  friend  of  the  people." 
The  churches  and  the  ancient  convents  of  the  Paulines  and  the  Domin- 
icans, the  latter  of  which  is  a  fine  old  Gothic  building ;  the  Church  of 
Our  Lady,  the  oldest  edifice  of  the  kind  in  Warsaw ;  and  the  Church  of 
the  Franciscans,  looked  tame  in  comparison  with  the  splendid  edifices  in 
Russia.  The  palace  of  the  Archbishop  of  Warsaw,  the  fine  palace  of  the 
Pac,  the  Church  of  the  Capuchins,  founded  by  John  Sobieski  in  gratitude 
for  his  overthrow  of  the  Turks  at  Vienna,  were  worth  seeing,  but  none 
of  them  could  detain  the  visitor  long.  In  the  last-named  church  the 
Emperor  Nicholas  erected  a  sarcophagus  in  honor  of  Sobieski,  and  his 


UNHAPPY    POLAND.  283 

heart  is  contained  in  it.  At  last  we  came  to  the  old  arsenal,  the  scene 
of  the  most  sanguinary  conflict  at  the  beginning  of  the  revolution  of 
1830.  Not  far  from  this  spot  was  the  church  and  convent  of  the  Car- 
melites. It  was  used  as  a  prison,  and  it  was  the  unjust  imprisonment 
of  a  large  number  of  persons  therein  which  provoked  the  revolution. 


CHAPTER    XXXII. 
UNHAPPY  POLAND  (continued}. 

THE  monument  to  Copernicus  is  of  historical  interest,  for  this  great 
astronomer  was  born  at  Cracow,  and  the  monument  by  Thorwald- 
sen  is  bronze,  was  paid  for  by  subscription,  and  represents  the  astrono- 
mer as  engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  his  studies. 

Warsaw  has  a  great  many  objects  of  interest,  among  which  are  the 
botanical  gardens,  the  observatory,  the  zoological  gardens,  the  park  of 
Lazienski,  the  Belvidere  Palace,  a  fine  Jewish  synagogue,  and  several 
very  large  public  benevolent  institutions.  Some  of  the  avenues  are 
worthy  almost  to  be  compared  with  the  boulevards  of  Paris,  bordered  as 
they  are  by  fine  lime-trees  and  large  and  elegant  residences.  , 

I  visited  the  criminal  court  while  a  trial  was  in  progress.  On  reach- 
ing the  great  room  I  found  it  filled  with  the  same  class  which  in  all  the 
countries  of  the  world  frequent  courts  of  justice.  A  few  had  business 
there,  others  had  gone  in  out  of  curiosity,  and  some  obviously  belonged 
to  the  class  of  idlers  who  attend  everything  to  which  admittance  is  free. 

The  courier  made  inquiry,  and  found  that  a  respectable  man  had  been 
arrested  and  tried  on  a  very  peculiar  charge,  and  that  the  judges  had 
just  retired  to  decide  upon  their  verdict.  A  letter  had  arrived,  directed 
to  him,  containing  a  draft  drawn  to  the  order  of  a  man  of  his  name.  He 
took  out  the  letter,  indorsed  the  draft,  and  secured  the  cash  upon  it ; 
whereas,  the  letter  was  for  another  person  of  the  same  name,  and  he  had 
been  tried  under  the  charge  of  stealing.  The  prisoner  sat  in  a  box,  and 
among  the  people  was  his  wife,  fashionably  dressed.  After  waiting  a 
half-hour  the  judges,  three  in  number,  dressed  in  a  brilliant  uniform, 
appeared,  and  the  prisoner  and  the  entire  assembly  arose.  The  only 
language  there  used  which  I  understood  was  that  of  human  nature,  and 

284 


UNHAPPY    POLAND.  285 

fixing  my  eyes  first  upon  the  prisoner,  then  upon  his  wife,  and  finally 
upon  the  judge,  I  soon  began  to  believe  that  the  prisoner  and  his  wife 
inferred  from  the  general  line  of  the  judge's  remarks  that  the  defendant 
was  to  be  acquitted.  Still,  there  were  other  observations,  apparently 
of  the  nature  of  rebukes,  which  caused  the  prisoner's  face  to  fall,  and 
doubts  as  to  his  acquittal  to  arise. 

At  last  his  positive  discharge  was  announced.  His  face  lighted  up, 
the  officers  of  the  court  shook  hands  with  him,  the  people  crowded 
around  his  wife,  and  my  talkative  courier  looked  up,  his  face  fairly  shin- 
ing, and  exclaimed,  "  Delivered  !  "  The  performance,  from  one  end  to 
the  other,  was  an  object-lesson  upon  the  passage,  "As  in  water  face 
answers  to  face,  so  doth  the  heart  of  man  to  man." 

In  all  the  courts  which  I  visited  I  found  the  order  to  be  better  than 
that  of  similar  assemblies  in  the  United  States.  At  the  slightest  dis- 
turbance or  confusion  an  officer  appeared,  and  gave  the  offender  making 
it  to  understand  that  he  would  be  promptly  ejected  or  otherwise  pun- 
ished if  the  offence  were  repeated.  Nothing  more  than  a  look  seemed 
necessary  to  preserve  perfect  order. 

There  are  eighty  thousand  Jews  in  Warsaw.  They  are  divided  into 
the  ancient  and  the  modern,  a  difference,  not  in  the  ages  of  the  Jews 
respectively,  but  in  their  spirit. 

The  ancient  Jews  are  among  the  most  superstitious,  filthy,  and  foul- 
smelling  beings  to  be  found.  The  women  when  they  marry  shave  their 
heads  and  wear  wigs,  as  a  token  of  subjection.  For  the  first  time  I  saw 
Jews  engaged  in  manual  labor :  carrying  water,  acting  as  bricklayers, 
hod-carriers,  carpenters,  porters,  etc.  They  seemed  to  keep  all  the 
liquor  saloons,  as  well  as  the  usual  assortment  of  clothing  shops  and 
pawn-brokers'  establishments. 

Modern  Jews  are  wealthy,  intelligent  and  refined.  Like  some  "  Re- 
formed "  Jews  in  the  United  States,  they  have  not  much  religion  of  any 
kind,  but  retain  such  portions  of  the  ancient  liturgy  as  may  please 
them,  sustain  the  synagogues  by  liberal  contributions,  and  form  an  ex- 
clusive social  aristocracy  among  their  kindred.  The  Jewish  maidens 


286  UNHAPPY    POLAND. 

and  matrons  of  this  class  are  among  the  handsomest  women  in  Europe, 
and  as  singers,  are  of  great  fame.  I  had  strong  suspicions  that  my 
courier  was  a  Jew,  but  could  not  bring  him  to  admit  it.  On  asking  him 
about  the  morals  of  the  Jews,  generally  in  Warsaw,  whether  they  were 
intemperate,  licentious,  or  violators  of  the  criminal  law,  he  said,  "  They 
will  cheat  and  lie,  but  their  morals  are  all  right." 

Nothing  excited  more  interest  than  the  citadel.  After  the  insurrec- 
tion of  1 830  the  citadel  was  erected  by  the  Russian  Government,  but 
the  city  of  Warsaw  had  to  pay  for  it  as  a  punishment  for  the  insurrec- 
tion, and  its  purpose  was  to  bombard  the  town  in  the  case  of  another 
revolution. 

It  is  an  imposing  fortress,  containing  a  barrack,  and  an  arsenal,  and 
many  dungeons  in  which  political  offenders  are  incarcerated.  Also 
there  is  a  room  in  which  the  military  court  by  which  they  are  tried 
assembles.  There  had  been  an  arrest  of  Nihilists  a  few  days  before. 
Preparations  were  then  being  made  for  the  visit  of  the  Emperor,  and  all 
suspected  persons  were  put  under  police  surveillance,  and  liable  at  any 
moment  to  expulsion  from  the  city  or  incarceration  in  the  dungeons. 
Some,  of  these  dungeons  I  saw.  They  were  underground,  and  yet  not 
underground,  owing  to  the  very  peculiar  method  of  construction.  Im- 
agine a  long  underground  corridor,  open  at  both  ends,  and  the  dungeons 
opening  from  the  corridor.  Thus  they  are  underground,  and  yet  not 
wholly  disconnected  with  the  air  of  the  outer  world.  Guards  could 
be  seen  in  every  direction.  It  was  impossible  for  an  individual  to 
approach  from  any  quarter  without  being  required  to  give  an  account  of 
himself.  Nor  could  a  person  move  anywhere  about  the  grounds  where 
he  could  not  be  covered  by  the  muskets  of  half  a  score  or  a  score  of 
guards. 

As  we  approached  the  citadel  a  cart  appeared  driven  by  a  man. 
Before  it  walked  two  guards,  and  behind  it  walked  two,  and  above  it  was 
suspended  a  white  flag.  Its  load  consisted  of  four  or  six  kegs  of  powder. 
The  object  of  the  guards  and  the  flag  was  to  warn  people  not  to  throw 
a  lighted  cigar  or  anything  else  upon  the  powder  which  might  ignite  it. 


UNHAPPY   POLAND.  289 

In  those  cells,  at  the  time  I  was  there,  were  several  hundred  political 
prisoners,  and  before  the  Tsar  arrived  as  many  as  a  thousand  of  them 
were  incarcerated. 

The  history  of  Poland  for  eight  hundred  years  is  comparatively  un- 
known, but  enough  is  known  to  show  that  it  was  the  history  of  wars 
and  rumors  of  wars.  But,  two  hundred  years  ago,  General  Sobieski, 
whose  palace,  cathedral  and  tomb  have  been  referred  to,  brought  the 
kingdom  into  the  notice  of  the  world.  But  still  it  continued  the  subject 
of  civil  wars ;  and  in  1 772  it  was  divided  among  Russia,  Austria,  and 
Prussia.  In  1792  the  Russians  took  possession  of  the  country,  and  in 
1794  Kosciusko  raised  the  standard  of  revolution.  After  many  suc- 
cesses he  was  defeated  at  Matsieiovice,  and  taken  prisoner.  Then,  as 
the  poet  Campbell  says, 


Hope  for  a  season  bade  the  world  farewell, 
And  freedom  shrieked  when  Kosciusko  fell. 


In  1796  he  was  set  at  liberty.  In  1806-7,  Napoleon's  army  win- 
tered in  Poland.  In  1815  the  kingdom  was  incorporated  under  Alex- 
ander, a  new  constitution  was  granted,  and  Cracow  was  declared  to  be  a 
free  republic.  On  the  twenty-ninth  of  November,  1830,  the  revolu- 
tion above  referred  to  broke  out.  On  the  fifth  of  October,  1831,  the 
insurrection  was  fully  suppressed.  Then  the  Emperor  Nicholas  issued 
the  ukase  decreeing  that  the  kingdom  of  Poland  should  henceforth  form 
an  integral  part  of  the  Russian  Empire.  Finally,  in  1847,  it  was 
declared  to  be  a  Russian  province.  In  1861  insurrections  and  riots 
became  common.  The  military  governor  was  assassinated.  The  Roman 
Catholic  archbishop  sympathized  with  the  people,  and  was  tried  and 
condemned  to  death  for  closing  the  churches.  The  chief  of  the  secret 
police  was  murdered.  The  Poles  perpetrated  many  atrocities  upon  the 
resident  Russians.  The  whole  kingdom  was  placed  under  a  state  of 
siege.  A  provisional  government  was  established,  and  issued  its  proc- 
lamations, ar.d  a  secret  central  committee  assumed  the  supreme  com- 


290 


UNHAPPY    POLAND. 


mand.    Amnesty  was  offered  to  all  who  would  lay  down  arms  before 
May  13. 

By  this  time  the  atrocities  that  were  being  committed  by  the  Rus- 
sians in  attempting  to  suppress  the  insurrection,  especially  under1  the 
bloody  rule  of  Mouravief  at  Wilna,  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
European  Powers.  They  made  every  possible  effort  to  intervene.  The 
Archbishop  of  Warsaw  was  banished.  A  great  many  priests  and  nobles 
were  executed. 

This  was  the  condition  of  affairs  at  the  beginning  of  June,  1863.  At 
that  time  we  were  in  the  midst  of  our  Civil  War.  I  had  been  quite  ill 
for  many  months,  and  was  in  Europe.  About  June  26  I  went  into  the 
House  of  Lords,  in  the  city  of  London,  and  heard  the  debate  upon 
the  policy  of  armed  intervention  to  suppress  the  outrages  perpetrated 
by  Russia  upon  Poland.  There  were  giants  in  those  days.  Lord 
Palmerston  was  at  the  head  of  the  government.  Disraeli,  Gladstone, 
John  Bright,  Richard  Cobden,  were  all  in  their  seats  in  the  House  of 
Commons.  Earl  John  Russell  had  charge  of  the  affairs  of  Government 
in  the  House  of  Lords  ;  the  Earl  of  Malmesbury  was  then  a  very  active 
factor  in  the  Opposition  ;  and  Lords  Brougham  and  Derby  were  still 
alive.  Lord  Stratford  de  Redcliffe  made  a  speech  on  the  affairs  of 
Poland,  and  called  upon  her  Majesty's  Government  to  take  some  steps 
to  bring  about  a  settlement,  that  the  frightful  atrocities  that  made  all 
Europe  shudder  might  come  to  an  end. 

Immediately  after  he  finished,  Lord  Brougham,  though  nearly  ninety 
years  of  age,  and  very  infirm  in  body,  rose  to  his  feet  and  hissed  out  : 
"  Of  all  quarrels,  a  family  quarrel  is  the  worst ;  of  all  wars,  a  civil  war 
is  the  worst.  Atrocities  are  inherent  in  a  civil  war.  We  need  not  fix 
our  attention  exclusively  on  the  Russians  and  the  Poles.  Let  us  cast  a 
glance  across  the  Atlantic,  and  there  we  will  find  our  own  kith  and  kin, 
our  own  descendants,  our  brothers  and  sons,  butchering  each  other  by 
the  thousand." 

I  was  delighted  to  have  the  opportunity  to  hear  Lord  Brougham  speak, 
but  sorry  that  the  facts  justified  such  a  reference  to  my  native  land. 


UNHAPPY    POLAND.  291 

Of  course,  on  seeing  the  various  reminders  of  this  last  great  revolu- 
tion in  Warsaw,  the  speeches  I  had  heard  on  the  subject  twenty-one 
years  before  naturally  arose  to  my  mind,  and  made  the  visit  peculiarly 
pleasant.  The  vivid  apprehension  of  the  present  miseries  of  Poland  con- 
stantly threw  a  shadow  over  it. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

PECULIARITIES    OF    RUSSIAN    TERRITORY    AND    CLIMATE. 

OF  whatever  the  rest  of  Europe  has  much,  Russia  has  little ;  and  of 
whatever  the  rest  of  Europe  has  little,  Russia  has  much.  The 
rest  of  Europe,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  has  a  large  amount  of  sea.- 
coast ;  Russia  has  very  little.  While  Russia  is  larger  than  all  the  rest 
of  Europe,  it  possesses  only  one  third  as  much  sea-coast,  and  of  what  it 
has,  about  half  is  upon  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  the  White  Sea,  and  of 
course  is  navigable  but  one  third  of  the  year.  The  rest  of  Europe  has 
mountains.  Rambaud  states  the  simple  geographical  facts  thus :  "  With- 
out speaking  of  the  vast  central  mass  of  the  Alps,  there  is  not  one 
European  land  which  does  not  possess,  either  in  its  length  or  breadth,  a 
great  mountain  system  forming  the  scaffolding,  or  the  backbone,  of  the 
country.  England  has  its  chain  of  the  Peak,  and  its  highlands  ;  France 
has  its  Cevennes  and  its  central  support  in  Auvergne ;  Spain,  its  Pyrenees 
and  Sierras  ;  Italy,  its  Apennines ;  Germany,  its'  ranges  in  Suabia,  Fran- 
conia,  and  the  Hartz  ;  Sweden,  her  Scandinavian  Alps  ;  the  Greco-Slav 
Peninsula  has  the  Balkan  and  Pindus." 

What  mountains  Russia  has  are  found  in  the  extremities.  In  the  many 
thousand  miles  that  I  travelled  in  Russia,  I  saw  no  mountains,  nor  any 
hill  that  rose  above  the  surrounding  country  more  than  twice  the  height 
of  Bunker  Hill  monument.  The  country,  with  occasional  depressions 
so  gradual  as  scarcely  to  be  noticed,  is  a  great  plain.  Hence  there  is  no 
obstruction  to  the  fierce  winds  that  sweep  down  from  the  Arctic  regions, 
nor  is  there  any  modification  of  the  temperature  by  the  influence  of  the 
sea.  The  historian  says  :  "  In  the  steppes  of  the  Kirghiz,  in  the  latitude 
of  the  centre  of  France,  the  mercury  is  sometimes  frozen  for  whole  days  ; 
while  in  the  summer  the  same  thermometer,  if  not  carefully  watched, 

bursts  in  the  sun." 

292 


PECULIARITIES  OF  RUSSIAN   TERRITORY  AND  CLIMATE.       293 

Russia  is  also  one  of  the  driest  countries  in  the  world.  It  contains 
very  little  stone,  and  up  to  the  time  of  Peter  the  Great  almost  all  of 
its  public  buildings  were  of  wood  or  brick.  The  most  famous  ancient 
palaces  and  churches  were  of  wood,  and  to-day  almost  all  the  houses  of 
the  citizens,  and  huts  of  the  peasants,  are  of  wood.  "  It  is  only  since  the 
conquest  of  the  Baltic  and  the  Black  Sea  that  the  Empire  has  had 
cities  of  stone.  Peter  the  Great  gave  Russia  her  first  stone  capital." 

But  if  Russia  has  very  little  sea-coast,  and  no  mountains  except  upon 
it's  boundaries,  it  has  many  of  the  greatest  rivers  in  the  world.  The 
Volga  is  a  wonderful  river.  As  I  rode  upon  it  and  considered  that  it 
was  possible  to  ride  by  steamer  more  than  twice  the  distance  from  St. 
Louis  to  New  Orleans,  I  could  not  but  feel  that  I  was  in  a  country 
whose  rivers  are  worthy  to  be  compared  with  those  of  the  United 
States.  Nearly  all  the  important  rivers,  whatever  may  be  their  course, 
rise  in  the  plateau  of  Valdai,  to  which  reference  is  made  in  the  chapter 
entitled  "Into  the  Heart  of  Russia."  Here  rises  the  Volga  which  finds 
its  way  into  the  Caspian  ;  in  the  same  neighborhood  is  the  Dnieper, 
which  flows  into  the  Black  Sea,  and  also  the  Neva.  The  network  of 
rivers  in  Russia  is  extraordinary,  and  hardly  paralleled. 

In  ancient  times  the  Great  Novgorod  derived  its  commercial  power 
and  importance  from  its  relation  to  this  network  of  rivers.  "  By  the 
Volkhof  its  vessels  sailed  from  the  Ilmen  to  the  Ladoga,  and  by  the 
Neva  from  the  Ladoga  to  the  Gulf  of  Finland  and  the  great  Baltic  Sea.. 
Other  small  rivers  put  it  in  communication  with  Lake  Onega  and  the 
White  Lake ;  by  the  Sukhona  and  the  Northern  Dwina  it  had  relations 
with  the  White  Sea,  where  the  later  port  of  Archangel  was  built.  By 
the  tributaries  of  the  Dwina  the  Novgorod  explorers  penetrated  deep 
into  the  northern  forests,  peopled  by  aboriginal  races,  on  whom  they 
imposed  tribute."  Thus  the  four  Russian  seas  were  put  in  unbroken 
communication. 

Keith  Johnston's  description  of  Russia  is  in  few  words  :  "The  vast 
central  area  of  the  Russian  lowland  has  almost  everywhere  the  same 
character,  woods  and  marshes  alternating  with  cultivated  land, .affording 


294       PECULIARITIES  OF  RUSSIAN  TERRITORY  AND  CLIMATE. 

a  superfluity  of  grain,  which  is  sent  down  by  the  rivers  to  the  seaports 
of  the  Baltic  and  Black  Sea ;  but  along  its  northern  border,  next  the  icy 
Arctic  Sea,  lie  the  moss-covered  swamps  called  the  Tundras,  the  soil  of 
which  is  never  thawed  for  more  than  a  yard's  depth  ;  all  its  southern 
margin  toward  the  Black  Sea  and  the  Caspian  is  a  treeless  steppe,  over 
which,  at  some  seasons,  the  grasses  shoot  up  above  a  man's  height,  con- 
cealing  the  pasturing  herds.  Towards  the  Caspian,  over  the  area  cov- 
ered by  that  sea  in  former  times,  the  steppe  has  a  different  aspect,  the 
soil  being  so  filled  with  salt  left  by  the  retiring  sea  as  to  support  only 
the  prickly  saltwort  and  such  saline  plants." 

The  great  forests  of  the  North  extend  from  the  marshes  on  the  shore 
of  the  Arctic  Ocean  down  to  Moscow.  These  forests  show  the  same 
general  distinctions  found  in  the  great  northern  forests  of  the  globe. 
The  larch  and  the  fir  alternating  with  the  birch  are  in  the  extreme  north, 
while  on  the  southern  boundary  of  the  forest  region  the  oaks,  the  maples, 
the  elms,  and  the  limes  with  which  we  are  familiar,  can  be  seen.  Then 
comes  the  immense  fertile  region  known  as  the  Black  Land,  which  con- 
sists of  "a  deep  bed  of  black  mould."  "From  time  immemorial  this 
soil  has  been  the  granary  of  Eastern  Europe.  It  was  here  Herodotus 
placed  his  agricultural  Scythians,  and  hence  Athens  drew  her  grain." 

Then  come  the  vast  steppes  which  if  properly  manured  are  fertile. 
Before  it  was  placed  under  cultivation  this  region  was  similar  to  our 
prairies. 

Next  come  the  great  barren  steppes,  which  remind  us  of  the  alkali 
plains  of  the  far  West.  Near  the  mouth  of  the  Dnieper  there  are  ex- 
panses of  sand ;  on  the  coast  of  the  Caspian,  as  already  remarked,  they 
are  saline. 

These  peculiarities  of  configuration  of  soil  and  climate  have  been  the 
most  potent  factors  in  developing  the  character  and  evolving  the  history 
of  the  Russian  people.  A  beautiful  passage  from  Rambaud  illustrates 
this  effect : 

"  We  must  recognize  that  the  Russian,  almost  as  much  as  the  Anglo- 
Saxon,  has  the  instinct  which  drives  men  to  emigrate  and  found  colonies. 


PECULIARITIES  OF  RUSSIAN  TERRITORY  AND  CLIMATE.       295 

The  Russians  do  in  the  far  East  of  Europe  what  the  Anglo-Saxons  dd 
in  the  far  West  of  America.  They  belong  to  one  of  the  great  races  of 
pioneers  and  backwoodsmen.  All  the  history  of  the  Russian  people 
from  the  foundation  of  Moscow  is  that  of  their  advance  into  the  forest, 
into  the  Black  Land,  into  the  prairie.  The  Russian  has  his  trappers 
and  settlers  in  the  Cossacks  of  the  Dnieper,  Don,  and  Terek ;  in  the 
tireless  fur-hunters  of  Siberia ;  in  the  gold-diggers  of  the  Ural  and  the 
Altai ;  in  the  adventurous  monks  who  ever  lead  the  way,  founding  in 
regions  always  more  distant,  a  monastery  which  is  to  be  the  centre  of  a 
town ;  lastly,  in  the  Raskolniki,  or  Dissenters,  Russians  Puritans  or 
Mormons,  who  are  persecuted  by  laws  human  and  divine,  and  seek  from 
forest  to  forest  the  Jerusalem  of  their  dreams.  The  level  plains  of 
Russia  naturally  tempted  men  to  migration.  The  mountain  keeps  her 
own,  the  mountain  calls  her  wanderers  to  return  ;  while  the  steppe, 
stretching  away  to  the  dimmest  horizon,  invites  you  to  advance,  to  ride 
at  adventure,  to  'go  where  the  eyes  glance.'  '  And  wherever  they  have 
gone  they  have  "  Russified  "  the  people  whom  they  found. 

If  the  reader  desires  further  information  on  this  subject,  he  will  find 
it  in  McKenzie  Wallace's  work :  a  work  of  such  rare  interest  in  style 
and  fulness  of  information  as  to  blend  the  absorbing  power  of  a  novel 
with  the  general  accuracy  and  solidity  of  a  history.  While  crossing  the 
Atlantic,  I  loaned  this  work,  which  is  in  two  volumes,  but  printed  in 
very  large  type,  to  an  eminent  bishop  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  who  was  so  fascinated  by  it  as  to  sit  up  nearly  a  whole  night  to 
finish  the  first  volume. 


CHAPTER    XXXIV. 

PECULIARITIES    OF    RUSSIAN    LIFE. 

I   LEFT  Sweden  for  Russia  in  August,  travelling  five  days  and  nights 
before  reaching  St.  Petersburg,  and  yet  arrived  in  that  city  in  July 
of  the  same  year,  and  for  two  or  three  days  after  I  arrived  in  Russia,  I 
was  still  in  the  month  of  July,  while  the  rest  of  Europe  was  far  along  in 
August. 

The  explanation  of  the  discrepancy  is  that  the  Greek  Church  is  at 
swords-points  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  and  would  not  adopt  the 
Gregorian  change  in  the  calendar.  It  is  therefore  twelve  days  behind 
the  rest  of  Europe.  Twelve  days  after  we  have  celebrated  Christmas, 
the  Russians  celebrate  it ;  twelve  days  after  we  have  celebrated  New 
Year's  Day,  the  Russians  celebrate  it ;  and  so  it  is  through  all  the  so- 
called  Christian  year. 

On  reaching  St.  Petersburg  on  the  ninth  of  August,  the  first  paper 
which  I  bought  was  dated  July  27.  Some  of  the  papers,  however,  have 
in  parenthesis  the  date  according  to  the  calculations  of  the  rest  of 
Europe. 

Upon  arriving  in  Russia  proper,  I  found  myself  for  the  first  time  — 
since  the  date  of  my  birth  —  in  a  country  where  I  did  not  know  the 
alphabet.  This  was,  indeed,  a  new  sensation,  and  by  no  means  agree- 
able. After  walking  about  for  some  time  in  St.  Petersburg,  I  tried 
to  find  the  Nevski  Prospect.  At  last  I  wandered  into  a  street  so  beau- 
tiful and  straight  that  it  occupied  me  for  a  while,  but  had  no  idea 
that  it  was  the  Nevski,  for  all  the  si<rn«  raiw  ft  Hchckn.  or  something 
iike  it. 

296 


PECULIARITIES  OF   RUSSIAN   LIFE.  297 

Perhaps  the  reader  would  like  to  know  something  about  this  strange 
language,  and  how  it  arose  in  its  present  written  form.  I  had  that 
desire,  and  procured  one  or  two  grammars,  studying  them  sufficiently  to 
know  the  principal  differences  between  the  Russian  and  the  other  chief 
languages  of  Europe.  As  this,  volume  may  be  sent  to  friends  in  Russia 
in  acknowledgment  of  the  many  kindnesses  received  there,  the  reader 
may  be  sure  I  shall  not  proceed  a  step  beyond  positive  knowledge  as  to 
what  the  said  grammars  say.  There  are  three  dialects  :  the  Little 
Russian,  the  White  Russian,  and  the  Great  Russian.  The  last  is  the 
language  of  literature,  the  language  of  the  Court,  and  of  judicial  pro- 
ceedings and  official  documents  of  every  kind.  It  is  also  spoken  by  the 
great  majority  of  the  people. 

I  was  told,  and  all  authorities,  I  find,  state,  that  the  people  who  under- 
stand any  one  of  these  three  dialects  can  understand  those  who  speak  the 
others.  It  was  a  surprise  to  me  to  learn  that  to  some  extent  Poles  and 
Russians  can  understand  each  other,  for  to  my  ear  the  languages  seem 
wholly  unlike. 

Instead  of  twenty-six  letters,  the  Russian  alphabet  has  thirty-six.  It 
is  claimed  that  the  alphabet  was  invented  in  part,  and  in  great  part 
adapted  from  the  Greek  by  St.  Methodius  and  St.  Cyril,  who  were 
the  chief  propagators  and  apostles  of  Christianity  among  the  various 
Slavonian  peoples  in  the  ninth  century.  This  alphabet  is  only  used  now 
in  religious  books.  Peter  the  Great,  with  his  all-inclusive  genius,  laid  his 
hand  on  the  alphabet,  and  greatly  improved  it,  throwing  away  some 
superfluous  letters,  and  changing  the  shape  of  others  to  make  them  more 
like  those  of  other  nations.  Meanwhile  the  services  of  the  Church  are 
performed  in  the  ancient  Bulgarian  Church  Slavonic,  and  as  this  con- 
tains two  more  letters  than  that  now  in  use,  the  people  can  understand 
it  only  in  a  general  way. 

I  sent  back  to  Russia  for  a  set  of  type,  and  through  the  kindness  of 
the  Rev.  William  Nicholson,  for  the  past  fifteen  years  superintendent  of 
the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society's  work  in  European  Russia, 
received  it  before  sailing  for  home. 


PECULIARITIES   OF    RUSSIAN    LIFE. 


The  following  table  shows  the  Russian  capitals  and  small  letters,  with 
their  pronunciation,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  English  : 

r  i  A  *  E  e 

g  in  gay.  d  in  day.  e  in 


A  a 

a  in  far, 


B  6 

b  in  A 


B   B 

w  in  vale. 


X 

t  in  azure. 


H  ii 


y  y 

oo  in  book. 


33 

z  in  zeal. 

0  o 

<?  in  open. 


_/&  in  fat. 


H  H,    f  i 

e  long. 

II    D 

/• 

X  x 

h  aspirated. 


d  in  oh/. 

K  K  JL  j 

£.  /. 

P  p  C  c 

>"•  J  in  sav. 


in  /Vj.        c^  in  chain. 


M   M 

m. 

T  T 

/-. 

ID  m 

in  shade. 


m  m 

sch  in  discharge. 


4,   99 

a  in  any. 


rb   T, 

a  semi-vowel  used  to 

harden    consonants, 

having  no  sound. 


K)  K> 

in  ««#. 


bl  y 

e  obscure  as 
in  ble. 


e  e 

fe  \nfeef. 


b   b 

a  semi-vowel  used  to 

soften  consonants,  but 

having  no  sound. 


V  v 

e  in  ?«*> 


tf 

y  in  r0y. 


Among  the  peculiarities  of  the  Russian  language  are  these :  there  is 
no  article;  pronouns,  nouns  and  adjectives  are  declined  in  no  less  than 
seven  cases ;  verbs  by  inflection  express  number,  person,  and,  in  some 
cases,  gender;  yet  they  have  but  three  tenses.  To  make  up  for  the  lack 
of  tenses  they  have  many  modes  "  which  determine  the  frequent  or  un- 
frequent,  precise  or  unprecise,  modes  of  an  action,"  etc. 

I  must  again  quote  Wallace  to  find  the  most  luminous  and  interesting, 
as  well  as  the  briefest,  description  of  the  Russian  language.  The 
following  passages,  with  some  explanatory  connecting  remarks,  are  taken 
from  his  work :  "  Even  for  one  who  possesses  a  natural  facility  for 
acquiring  foreign  tongues,  the  learning  of  Russian  is  by  no  means  an 
easy  task."  .  .  Though  it  is  of  the  same  stock  with  our  own,  and 
contains  few  Asiatic  Tartar  words,  "it  contains  sounds  unknown  to 
West-European  ears  and  difficult  to  West-European  tongues ;  and  its 
roots,  though  in  great  part  derived  from  the  same  original  stock  as 
those  of  the  Graeco-Latin  and  Teutonic  languages,  are  generally  not  at 


PECULIARITIES   OF    RUSSIAN   LIFE.  299 

all  easily  recognized."  To  make  this  clear  betakes  the  word  ottts,  which 
he  says  is  another  form  of  "father,"  "vater,"  and  "pere."  He  says 
the  future  tense  "  is  formed  by  prefixing  a  preposition,  but  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  determine  by  rule  which  preposition  should  be  used.  Thus,  idu 
(I  go)  becomes  poidu ;  pishu  (I  write)  becomes  napishu"  etc.  Hence 
every  verb  in  the  language  must  be  learned  by  a  pure  effort  of  memory. 

Then  he  speaks  of  the  difficulty  of  accenting  the  proper  syllable.  In 
this  respect,  he  says,  it  is  like  Greek,  and  even  more  perplexing,  for 
Russian  is  not  pointed  with  accents,  and  there  are  no  precise  rules  for 
the  change  of  accent  in  various  inflections  of  the  same  word.  But  he 
says  that  he  learned  the  language,  and  that  any  one  else  can  do  so  if  he 
will  take  time  enough.  "The  ear  and  the  tongue  gradually  become 
familiar  with  the  peculiarities  of  the  inflection  and  accentuation,  and 
practice  fulfills  the  same  purpose  as  abstract  rules."  But  he  affirms  that 
no  foreigner  will  ever  be  able  to  pass  for  a  Russian,  and  no  Russian  can 
learn  to  speak  English  as  an  Englishman,  unless  he  learned  it  in  infancy. 

His  discussion  of  the  marvellous  power  of  Russians  to  learn  foreign 
tongues  is  very  interesting.  He  says  that  there  is  no  doubt  that  edu- 
cated Russians  are  better  linguists  than  the  educated  classes  of  Western 
Europe,  for  "they  always  speak  French,  and  very  often  English  and 
German  also."  This  he  explains  by  three  causes.  (I  condense  his 
remarks.)  Any  Russian  who  wishes  to  be  counted  civilized  must  know 
at  least  one  foreign  language.  Hence,  he  is  taught  in  his  infancy. 
Many  families  employ  a  German  nurse,  a  French  tutor,  and  an  English 
governess.  Hence  the  children  from  infancy  are  familiar  with  these 
tongues.  I  gave  an  instance  of  this  in  the  description  of  the  family  of 
the  Prince  with  whom  I  travelled  on  the  Gulf  of  Finland,  who  had  all 
these  with  them,  and  whose  youngest  son,  ten  years  old,  spoke  Russian, 
French,  German,  and  English  fluently.  Again,  the  Russian  language  is 
very  rich,  and  contains  nearly  all  the  sounds  which  are  to  be  found  in 
Dutch,  German,  Spanish,  French,  Italian,  and  English.  Finally,  he  con- 
cludes by  saying  that  perhaps,  on  the  whole,  it  would  be  well  to  call  in 
the  Darwinian  theory,  and  assume  that  the  Russian  noblesse,  having  for 


300  PECULIARITIES   OF   RUSSIAN   LIFE. 

several  generations   been   compelled  to  learn  foreign  languages,  have 
evolved  a  "hereditary  polyglot  talent." 

Of  some  of  these  remarks  I  had  practical  experience  of  the  truth,  for 
I  found  that  by  the  time  I  was  about  to  leave  Russia  the  inflections  and 
accent  became  quite  familiar  to  me.  Repetition  through  any  sense  will 
develop  an  aptitude  and  wear  a  kind  of  channel  for  itself  in  the  brain, 
even  though  the  meaning  of  the  words  be  not  understood. 

Russians,  in  conversation,  when  unexcited,  seem  dull  and  heavy,  and 
their  tones  have  a  kind  of  low  chanting  element ;  but  when  animated 
from  any  cause,  this  rhythm  disappears,  and  a  short,  sharp,  and  decisive 
tone  takes  its  place.  They  fairly  yell  at  each  other.  Hearing  a  gentle- 
man, as  it  seemed  to  me,  speaking  most  violently  to  a  coachman,  I  said 
to  him,  "  In  my  country,  if  a  passenger  were  to  yell  and  gesticulate  at 
a  coachman  as  you  have  just  done,  he  would  spring  off  his  box  and  show 
fight  at  once."  The  Russian  did  not  seem  to  be  aware  that  he  had  done 
any  thing  improper ;  he  had  only  said,  "  You  miserable  wretch,  you  un- 
couth, disheveled  poltroon  and  loafer,  you  dastardly  sluggard  and  petty 
simpleton,  why  are  you  running  into  that  droshky  ?  "  or  words  to  that 
exasperating  effect.  Conversation  between  equals,  of  course,  is  not  ordi- 
narily so  vehement,  but  judging  by  the  tones  used  they  are  much  more 
so  than  we. 

The  morality  of  Russia  is  very  low.  This  remark  should  not  be  con- 
strued into  a  statement  that  all  Russians  are  immoral ;  it  simply  means 
that  the  moral  conduct  of  the  average  Russian  is  low.  Public  dissipa- 
tion is  carried  to  an  extent  not  seen  elsewhere.  Peculiar  institutions 
exist  there.  It  has  been  said  of  them  that  "they  cannot  be  classified 
as  theatres,  hotels,  or  saloons,  though  they  have  some  traits  of  each." 
A  correspondent  of  a  New  York  paper,  since  my  return,  has  described 
one  of  them,  and  there  are  five  of  the  same  kind  in  St.  Petersburg.  I 
did  not  visit  any  of  them,  but  received  accounts  from  the  best  authority 
which  fully  agree  with  the  statements  of  this  correspondent.  "The 
entrance  is  brilliantly  lighted.  A  gorgeous  liveried  footman  shows  the 
visitor  in."  A  mixed  multitude  assembles  —  merchants,  clerks,  military 


PECULIARITIES   OF    RUSSIAN    LIFE.  301 

and  civil  officers,  women  of  doubtful  reputation.  Performances  on  the 
stage  consist  of  immoral  songs  and  the  wildest  kind  of  can-can  dancing. 
This  correspondent  says,  after  his  description  ends,  "What  conversa- 
tions are  conducted  there !  what  songs  take  place !  About  two  o'clock 
in  the  morning  the  song  turns  into  the  mad  bacchanal."  Again,  he 
speaks  of  the  palace  of  pleasure  frequented  by  unmarried  people.  Of 
the  pleasure  offered  and  indulged  in  here  it  is  better  not  to  say  a  word. 
Tens  of  thousands  of  the  poor  people  pass  all  their  evenings  and  nights 
in  such  places.  "  In  all  of  them  the  public  are  allowed  to  stay  through 
the  night." 

Again,  he  states  that  things  are  only  apparently  cleaner  above,  and 
gives  the  Government  policy  in  the  following  words  :  "  It  is  the  men 
and  women  of  the  type  of  Brutus  and  the  imperial  ministers  who  hate 
and  persecute  them.  They  fear  nothing  from  jolly  men  and  frivolous 
women  who  frequent  orpheums,  golden  palaces,  palaces  of  pleasure, 
dancing-rooms,  and  other  places  of  the  kind.  Dancing,  wine-drinking, 
and  playing  cards  are  the  amusements  of  the  upper  classes.  In  Russia 
no  citizen  has  a  right  to  make  or  sell  playing-cards.  It  is  a  Government 
monopoly." 

This  correspondent,  who  knew  what  he  was  writing  about,  quotes  the 
Novoe  Vremla  thus :  "  We  are  told  that  Vienna  and  Paris  are  known  for 
the  light  morals  of  their  residents.  But  in  our  capital  there  are  things 
unknown  to  either  of  those  cities.  In  Paris  they  close  all  places  of  pub- 
lic amusement  at  eleven  o'clock,  and  here  the  very  Babels  are  allowed  to 
last  through  the  night.  Our  Nevski  Prospect,  even  during  the  day,  is 
turned  into  a  huge  disreputable  house.  Only  under  the  Directory  in 
France  were  their  morals  so  loose  as  ours  to-day."  And  another  paper, 
describing  the  same  things,  says :  "  A  psychological  contagion  is  spread- 
ing itself  unchecked.  We  are  living  in  a  moral  revolution." 

It  is  to  be  suspected  that  the  Government  winks  at  all  this  upon  the 
assumption  that  so  long  as  the  people  are  allowed  to  amuse  themselves, 
they  will  not  sympathize  with  the  revolutionary  party. 

Russian   officials   are  generally  dishonest,  from  the  highest  to   the 


302  PECULIARITIES   OF   RUSSIAN    LIFE. 

lowest.  The  exceptions  are  exceedingly  few,  and  they  are  constantly  in 
peril  either  of  displacement  or  of  assassination.  One  honest  man  among 
ninety-nine  thieves,  whom  he  may  expose  if  he  himself  is  not  suppressed, 
has  very  little  opportunity.  The  saying  is  attributed  to  Nicholas  that 
there  were  but  two  persons  in  the  entire  Empire  who  would  not  steal  — 
himself  and  his  son.  Russian  merchants  and  traders  are,  many  of  them, 
thoroughly  dishonest ;  of  course,  not  all.  The  common  people  are  ex- 
tremely filthy,  though  the  filthiest  that  I  saw  were  not  more  filthy  than 
some  of  the  Irish  that  I  met  in  Cork.  Dr.  Maclay,  of  Japan,  formerly 
of  China,  was  my  companion  in  visiting  some  of  the  sections  of  Cork, 
and  remarked  that  he  had  never  seen  anything  worse  in  China,  if  he  had 
ever  seen  anything  as  bad  there.  But  the  peasants,  as  a  whole,  in  Rus- 
sia, are  very  uncleanly.  Some  filthy  customs  I  had  never  imagined  pos- 
sible. The  description  of  them  would  pollute  the  page. 

The  more  aristocratic  classes  of  travellers  or  merchants  of  the  higher 
grade,  and  professional  men,  are  worthy  to  be  compared  with  those  of 
any  other  part  of  the  world.  Many  of  the  Polish  priests  are  very  slov- 
enly and  greasy.  Verminous  monks  can  be  found  travelling  about, 
mingling  with  crowds  at  fairs  in  large  numbers. 

Intemperance  is  exceedingly  common  among  the  Russian  people.  A 
great  number  of  holidays  contribute  much  to  this  state  of  affairs.  The 
people  become  frightfully  drunk,  and  remain  so  until  their  money  is 
entirely  exhausted.  They  have  a  custom  there  called  Pominki  —  a 
remembrance  service  forty  days  after  a  person's  death.  Once  a  year 
they  visit  family  graves.  This  is  often  accompanied  by  debauchery. 

Some  of  their  peculiarities  are  such  as  might  well  be  adopted  elsewhere. 
Whenever  a  funeral  passes  along  the  street  all  Russians  remove  their 
hats.  They  will  be  quite  offended  if  you  do  not  take  off  your  hat  in 
going  into  any  store  or  place  of  business.  This  custom  originated  in  the 
respect  paid  by  the  people  to  the  image  or  picture  of  some  saint  or  holy 
virgin  which  may  be  in  the  building. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 

THE  POETRY  OF  THE  COMMON  PEOPLE. 

THIS,  like  everything  else  in  the  Empire,  is  peculiar.  It  originated 
in  the  monotonous  and  helpless  life  of  the  ordinary  Russian 
peasant.  Some  of  the  songs,  specimens  of  which  are  here  given,  I  heard 
sung  in  the  Russian  language,  and  in  endeavoring  to  obtain  translations, 
fell  upon  that  magnificent  work,  "The  Songs  of  the  Russian  People," 
by  W.  S.  Ralston.  Hence  I  am  sure  the  translations  are  authentic. 
Misfortunes,  or  calamity,  or  woe,  is  often  represented  in  Russia  as  a 
being  named  Gore.  It  often  figures  in  the  popular  tales,  and  one  really 
pathetic  story  represents  "a  poverty-stricken  wretch,  who  strives  to  keep 
up  appearances  by  singing,  hearing  another's  voice  in  unison  with  his 
own,  for  which  he  cannot  account  until  he  discovers  that  it  belongs  to 
Gore,  who  is  keeping  him  company  "  —  that  is  misery.  The  following 
is  a  mournful  song  of  a  maiden  : 

Whither  shall  I,  the  fair  maiden,  flee  from  Sorrow? 

If  I  fly  from  Sorrow  into  the  dark  forest, 

After  me  runs  Sorrow  with  an  ax. 

"  I  will  fell,  I  will  fell,  the  green  oaks ; 

I  will  seek,  I  will  find,  the  fair  maiden." 

If  I  fly  from  Sorrow  into  the  open  field, 
After  me  runs  Sorrow  with  a  scythe. 
"  I  will  mow,  I  will  mow,  the  open  field ; 
I  will  seek,  I  will  find,  the  fair  maiden." 

Whither,  then,  shall  I  flee  from  Sorrow  ? 
I  will  rush  from  Sorrow  into  the  blue  sea ; 
After  me  comes  Sorrow  as  a  huge  fish. 
"  I  will  drink,  I  will  swallow,  the  blue  sea ; 
I  will  seek,  I  will  find,  the  fair  maiden." 
3°3 


304  THE   POETRY   OF   THE   COMMON   PEOPLE. 

If  I  seek  refuge  from  my  sorrow  in  marriage  — 
Sorrow  follows  me  as  my  dowry. 
If  I  take  to  bed  to  escape  from  my  Sorrow  — 
Sorrow  sits  beside  my  pillow. 

And  when  I  shall  flee  from  Sorrow  into  the  damp  earth 

Sorrow  will  go  after  me  with  a  spade. 

Then  will  Sorrow  stand  over  me  :  and  cry  triumphantly, 

"  I  have  driven,  I  have  driven  the  fair  maiden 

Into  the  damp  earth." 

The  ancient  freebooters  of  Russia  are  represented  as  maintaining 
a  defiant  appearance  in  the  presence  of  their  captors.  "  One  of  them 
is  asked  by  the  Tsar  himself  whether  he  had  many  companions  in 
his  forays,  and  who  they  were  with  whom  he  robbed  and  stole.  He 
answers  : " 

I  will  tell  thee,  O  source  of  hope,  orthodox  Tsar, 
All  the  truth  will  I  tell  to  thee,  the  whole  truth  : 
The  number  of  my  companions  was  four. 
My  first  companion  — the  dark  night, 
My  second  companion  —  a  knife  of  steel, 
My  third  companion  —  my  good  steed, 
My  fourth  companion  —  my  tough  bow, 
And  my  messengers  were  keen  arrows. 

Here  is  the  mourning  of  a  young  soldier  conscripted  into  the  dragoons. 
His  long  curls  are  cut  off  with  the  official  scissors,  and  he  sings  : 

Not  for  my  black  curls  do  I  mourn, 

But  I  mourn  for  my  own  home. 

In  my  home  are  three  Sorrows, 

And  the  first  Sorrow  is  — 

I  have  parted  from  my  father  and  mother, 

From  my  father,  from  my  mother, 

From  my  young  wife,  and  from  my  orphaned  boys, 

From  my  little  children. 

A  maiden,  whose  parents  wish  her  to  marry  a  stranger,  and  give  up 
her  hope,  her  heart's  beloved,  exclaims  in  her  grief  : 

Forth  will  I  go 
To  the  meadows  green, 
And  there  cry  aloud  ; 
On  Harm  will  I  call. 


THE   POETRY   OF   THE   COMMON   PEOPLE.  305 

Come  hither,  come  hither, 

Ye  beasts  of  prey ; 

I 
Here  is  luscious  food : 

Come,  tear  me  to  shreds, 

Only  leave  untouched 

My  beating  heart, 

And  bear  it  away 

To  the  hands  of  my  dear  one ; 

Ah,  there  let  him  see 

How  fondly  I  loved  him  ! 

"  To  the  tears  of  the  wife  the  songs  attach  less  importance  than  to 
those  of  a  sister,  or  a  mother,  or  a  dear  friend  :  " 

There  weeps  his  mother  as  a  river  runs ; 
There  weeps  his  sister  as  a  streamlet  flows ; . 
There  weeps  his  youthful  wife  as  falls  the  dew. 
The  sun  will  rise  and  gather  up  the  dew. 

So  a  dying  husband  does  not  seem  to  think  much  about  his  wife : 

Not  for  my  kinsmen  do  I  grieve, 

Not  for  my  youthful  wife, 

But  for  my  little  ones  I  grieve. 

My  darling  little  ones  are  left, 

Dear  little  tiny  innocents, 

To  suffer  pangs  of  hunger  and  of  cold. 

Here  is  one  that  represents  a   young  woman  unhappily  married,  and 
seeking  consolation  outside  the  family : 

THE    WIFE: 

Fain  would  I  be  sleeping,  dreaming  : 
Heavy  lies  my  head  upon  the  pillow, 

Heavy  up  and  down  the  passage  goes  my  husband's  father, 
Angrily  about  it  keeps  he  pacing. 
CHORUS  :  Thumping,  scolding,  thumping,  scolding, 
Never  lets  his  daughter  sleep. 

FATHER-IN-LAW  : 

Up,  up,  up  !  thou  sloven  there  1 
Up,  up,  up  !  thou  sluggard  there  ! 
Slovenly,  slatternly,  sluggardish  slut ! 


306  THE    POETRY   OF   THE   COMMON    PEOPLE. 

THE    WIFE  : 

• 

Fain  would  I  be  sleeping,  dreaming  ; 

Heavy  lies  my  head  upon  the  pillow, 
Up  and  down  the  passage  goes  my  husband's  mother, 
Angrily  about  it  keeps  she  pacing. 
CHORUS  :  Thumping,  scolding,  thumping,  scolding, 
Never  lets  her  daughter  sleep. 

THE    MOTHER-IN-LAW  : 
Up,  up,  up  !  thou  sloven  there! 
Up,  up,  up  !  thou  sluggard  there  ! 
Slovenly,  slatternly,  sluggardish  slut ! 

THE  WIFE  : 

Fain  would  I  be  sleeping,  dreaming, 
Heavy  lies  my  head  upon  the  pillow, 
Up  and  down  the  passage  steals  my  beloved  one, 
All  so  lightly,  softly  keeps  he  whispering  — 

THE  LOVER: 

Sleep,  sleep,  sleep,  my  darling  ! 
Sleep,  sleep,  sleep,  my  precious  one  ! 
Driven  out,  thrown  away,  married  too  soon  ! 

Wife -whipping  in  Russia  among  the  peasants  is  regarded  as  a  privilege 
by  the  wife  as  well  as  a  duty  by  the  husband.  Ralston  says :  "  The 
subject  of  wife-beating  plays  a  considerable  part  in  the  Russian  popular 
poetry.  The  following  may  serve  as  an  example  of  the  way  in  which  it 
is  treated  : 

Across  the  Don  a  plank  lay,  thin  and  bending, 

No  foot  along  it  passed. 

But  I  alone,  the  young  one  from  the  hill, 

I  went  along  it  with  my  true  love  dear. 

And  to  my  love  I  said  : 

"  O  darling,  dear, 

Beat  not  thy  wife  without  a  cause, 

But  only  for  good  cause  beat  thou  thy  wife, 

And  for  a  great  offense. 

Far  away  is  my  father  dear, 

And  farther  still  my  mother  dear ; 

They  cannot  hear  my  voice, 

They  cannot  see  my  burning  tears." 


THE    POETRY   OF   THE   COMMON   PEOPLE.  307 

In  another  there  is  a  game  called  "The  Wife's  Love,"  that  is  some- 
what amusing  and  illustrative. 

A  youth  and  a  girl,  or  more  frequently  two  girls,  one  of  whom  wears 
a  man's  hat,  take  their  places  in  the  middle  of  a  circle  of  singers,  who 
begin  : 

Wife,  I  am  going, 

To  walk  through  the  bazar. 

Wife,  my  wifie, 

Hard  is  thy  heart. 

Wife,  I  will  buy  thee 

Muslin  for  a  sleeve. 

Wife,  my  wifie, 

Hard  is  thy  heart. 

See,  wife,  here  is 

Muslin  for  a  sleeve. 

The  husband  offers  his  present.  Then  his  wife  will  not  look  at  it. 
Presently  she  clutches  it  from  his  hand,  and  thereupon  flings  it  to  the 
ground. 

Chorus  sings  : 

Good  people,  only  see  ! 

She  does  not  love  her  husband  at  all ! 

Never  agrees  with  him,  never  bows  down  to  him, 

From  him  turns  away  ! 

The  second  act  is  similar  to  the  first.  The  husband  buys  his  wife  a 
golden  ring,  but  it  fares  no  better  than  the  former  present.  Then  comes 
the  third  and  final  act,  in  which  the  husband  cries  : 

Wife,  I  will  go 
To  the  bazar. 
Wife,  I  will  buy  thee 
A  silken  whip. 

This  time  when  he  brings  his  new  offering,  and  says  : 

There,  wife, 

Is  your  dear  present  1 


3o8  THE   POETRY   OF   THE   COMMON    PEOPLE. 

she  looks  upon  him  affectionately,  he  gives  her  a  blow  with  the  whip, 
she  bows  low  before  him,  and  kisses  him,  while  the  chorus  sings : 

Good  people,  only  see  ! 
How  well  she  loves  her  lord  ! 
Always  agrees  with  him, 
Always  bows  down  to  him, 
Gives  him  kisses. 

And  the  satisfied  husband  concludes  with  the  words  : 

Wife,  my  wifie, 
Soft  is  thy  heart. 

However,  we  must  not  condemn  the  Russians  too  severely  for  wife- 
beating.  From  time  immemorial  in  England  it  has  been  the  privilege  of 
the  common  people,  by  the  common  law,  to  chastise  their  wives  for  a  good 
cause,  and  to  a  degree  of  not  breaking  of  bones,  or  the  risking  of  life. 
When  I  was  in  London  for  the  first  time,  many  years  ago,  a  trial  took 
place  in  which  the  judge  explicitly  assumed  that  the  man  had  the  right 
to  beat  his  wife,  and  that  the  only  question  for  the  jury  to  settle  was 
whether  he  had  gone  too  far,  or  whether  he  had  done  so  without  good 
cause !  A  Russian  told  me  that  if  a  man  never  used  this  prerogative,  in 
some  sections,  the  wife  would  despise  him  as  unworthy  the  name  of  a 
man. 


CHAPTER    XXXVI. 

THE    RUSSO-GREEK    CHURCH. 

THE  religion  of  Russia  is  so  unlike  Roman  Catholicism  or  Protest- 
antism that  those  who  have  not  seen  it  or  made  it  a  matter  of 
study,  find  on  becoming  acquainted  with  it,  much  to  surprise  and  not  a 
little  to  amuse  them.  The  Russo-Greek  Church  hates  Roman  Catholi- 
cism more  than  any  other  form  of  Christianity  except  the  dissenting 
sects  which  have  arisen  among  its  own  communicants. 

The  separation  of  the  Greek  Church  from  the  Latin  Church  dates  from 
the  refusal  of  the  Greek  patriarchs  to  acknowledge  the  primacy  of  the 
Pope,  and  this  is  the  fundamental  difference  between  them. 

But,  in  many  other  respects,  the  Greek  Church  differs  from  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church.  It  compels  the  priests  to  marry,  but  no  priest  can 
marry  a  second  time,  nor  can  any  person  be  admitted  to  the  priesthood 
who  is  not  the  son  of  a  priest. 

Priests  are  divided  into  the  White  and  the  Black.  Of  these  the  Black 
are  monks,  and  on  them  celibacy  is  binding,  and  from  them  only  all  the 
Hierarchy,  consisting  of  Metropolates,  Bishops,  and  Archimandrites, 
etc.,  are  chosen.  When  a  parish  priest's  wife  dies,  he  may  enter  the 
Black  clergy,  and  thus  his  only  hope  of  becoming  a  bishop  is  in  the 
death  of  his  wife. 

The  Russo-Greek  Church  gives  bread  and  wine,  but  both  together, 
and  from  a  golden  spoon,  to  the  communicants ;  while  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  does  not  give  wine  to  any  but  priests.  The  Russo-Greek 
Church  does  not  believe  in  predestination,  but  holds  that  God  foreknew 
all  things,  and  decreed  the  salvation  of  all  whom  he  foresaw  could  ac- 
cept Christ.  It  does  not  give  indulgences  or  dispensations,  nor  does  it 

309 


3io  THE   RUSSO-GREEK   CHURCH. 

hold  the  doctrine  of  purgatory  as  taught  by  the  Church  of  Rome,  though 
it  prays  for  the  dead  and  allows  the  intercession  of  saints. 

One  marked  and  somewhat  ludicrous  peculiarity  of  the  Russo-Greek 
church  is  its  treatment  of  pictures  and  images.  No  images  are  allowed 
in  the  churches,  but  pictures,  mosaics,  and  "  all  representations  on  a  flat 
surface  are  not  held  to  be  violations  of  the  law  which  says,  '  thou  shalt  not 
make  unto  thyself  any  graven  image  ' !  "  Yet  the  pictures  are  so  brought 
out,  and  the  frames  and  surroundings  are  so  arranged  as  to  produce  the 
effect  of  an  image  upon  the  eye. 

"  The  Offices  of  the  Oriental  Church,"  edited  and  introduced  by  the 
Rev.  Nicholas  Bj erring,  who  was  appointed  by  the  Russian  government 
to  conduct  its  services  for  the  Embassy  for  many  years  in  the  city  of 
New  York,  describes  the  Russian  churches  and  services.  I  have  com- 
pared my  own  observations  with  his  statements,  and  am  assured  of  the 
accuracy  of  the  description  here  given. 

The  prevailing  mode  of  architecture  is  the  Byzantine,  which  is  older 
than  the  Gothic.  The  church  is  cruciform,  under  a  spacious  dome,  and 
has  the  sanctuary  usually  at  the  eastern  end.  The  chief  entrance  is  at 
the  western  end.  There  are  two  porches  or  vestibules,  one  in  which 
penitents  tarry,  and  the  other  for  catechumens  —  candidates  for  reception 
in  the  church.  There  are  no  seats  except  a  few  for  the  sick  and  aged, 
and  in  certain  cathedral  churches,  for  the  Emperor.  The  chancel  is 
divided  into  choir  and  sanctuary,  but  not  as  in  the  Roman  Catholic 
churches,  the  choir  being  much  smaller  in  proportion.  Behind  the  choir 
towers  the  Ikonostasis.  This  is  an  altar  screen,  and  when  the  doors  are 
closed  it  completely  shuts  the  sanctuary  and  those  within  from  the  view 
of  those  without.  It  is  adorned  with  pictures  of  Christ,  the  Virgin 
Mary,  and  other  saints. 

There  are  three  doors  into  the  sanctuary.  The  first  are  called  the 
Royal  or  Holy  Doors,  and  none  but  a  bishop,  priest  or  deacon  may  pass 
through  them.  A  curtain  is  suspended  which  at  certain  times  is  drawn 
over  these  doors.  The  ordinary  servants  of  the  church  pass  through 
the  south  door,  called  the  Deacon  s  Door,  and  through  the  north  door, 


CLERGY   OF    THE    RUSSIAN    CHURCH. 


THE   RUSSO-GREEK   CHURCH.  313 

called  the  Paranomarion.  The  laity  are  not  generally  allowed  to  enter 
the  sanctuary,  and  women,  never.  I  was  permitted  to  enter  in  two  or 
three  cases. 

Inside -the  sanctuary,  the  most  conspicuous  object  is  the  Holy  Table, 
which  is  a  cubical  structure  of  wood  placed  in  the  middle  of  the  sanctu- 
ary. On  the  Table  is  a  tabernacle  containing  the  consecrated  elements 
of  the  Eucharist,  the  cross,  and  the  Book  of  the  Gospels.  Behind  the 
Holy  Table  is  the  Bishop's  Throne  with  a  row  of  seats  on  each  side  for 
the  attendant  clergy,  who  minister  with  him. 

In  front  of  the  Holy  Doors  there  is  a  little  platform  called  the  Ambon, 
from  which  the  Gospel  is  read  and  sermons  preached  ;  but  in  cathedral 
churches  there  is  a  large  pulpit  in  the  middle  of  the  church. 

Some  of  the  Holy  Vessels  are  worthy  of  remark.  The  Asterisk  is  a 
star  made  of  two  semicircles  crossed  and  joined  together  ;  it  covers  the 
Disk  on  which  the  Holy  Lamb  (Agnus)  is  laid.  The  Spear  is  a  knife 
formed  like  a  lance,  having  a  cross  on  the  handle.  It  is  used  in  cutting 
out  the  portions  of  bread  that  are  to  be  consecrated,  and  is  typical  of  the 
spear  that  pierced  the  Redeemer's  side.  The  Analogion  is  a  high  desk 
which  the  Deacon  uses  when  reading  from  the  Ambon  ;  on  it  the  holy 
pictures  and  the  Book  of  the  Gospels  are  placed.  The  Crowns  are  to  be 
placed  upon  the  heads  of  bridegroom  and  bride  as  a  sign  that  they  "  are 
victorious  over  youthful  lusts,  and  also  that  they  are  the  princes  and 
rulers  of  their  posterity." 

A  Russian  Christian  never  passes  a  church  without  uncovering  his 
head  and  making  the  sign  of  the  cross.  At  the  first  stroke  of  the  bell 
which  summons  to  Divine  service,  he  does  the  same,  and  when  the 
bell  announces  the  consecration  of  the  bread  and  wine  (for  the  Russian 
Church  teaches  transubstantiation)  he  pauses  for  a  moment,  though  on 
the  street,  or  at  work.  The  pictures  are  the  central  point  of  household 
devotion,  like  the  family  Bible  in  the  United  States.  These  pictures 
are  often  transmitted  as  heirlooms  in  a  family,  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion. Kneeling  before  them  the  Russian  says  all  his  prayers,  and  often 
a  light  is  kept  burning  before  them  which  is  called  the  Eternal  Light. 


314  THE    RUSSO-GREEK   CHURCH. 

"  These  pictures,  therefore,  are  carefully  cherished  and  preserved  by 
every  Russian.  In  case  of  accident,  as  of  fire,  they  are  the  first  prop- 
erty rescued  ;  and  at  burial,  one  of  them  is  carried  to  the  grave,  and 
afterward  placed  in  the  room  where  the  departed  Christian  died." 

The  ritual  of  the  Russian  Church  is  exceedingly  long.  The  services 
are  ornate  to  a  degree  unequalled  elsewhere.  The  vestments  of  the 
priests  are  very  costly  and  gorgeously  decorated,  and* the  music  of  "  un- 
exampled harmony."  Instrumental  music  is  not  allowed,  nor  are  female 
voices  employed ;  the  higher  parts  being  taken  by  boys.  Great  attention 
is  paid  to  music,  and  money  lavishly  spent  upon  it.  The  Empire  is 
searched  for  fine  bassos,  and  training  continued  for  successive  genera- 
tions has  developed  a  strength  and  melody  far  beyond  the  average 
attained  by  the  natives  of  Western  countries.  The  finest  German 
choral  singing  is  hardly  equal  to  that  in  the  great  chapel  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, or  the  singing  of  the  monks  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Alexander 
Nevski. 

In  the  largest  churches  readers,  usually  deacons,  are  selected  whose 
voices  are  extraordinarily  deep.  They  read  in  a  grand,  though  monoton- 
ous way,  for  half  an  hour  or  more,  when,  as  the  maximum  of  tediousness 
would  appear  to  be  reached,  the  reader  passes  out  of  the  monotone  into 
a  slightly  upward  inflection,  and  at  the  instant  the  change  is  perceived, 
the  choir  will  blend  with  his  voice,  and  a  series  of  antiphonal  responses 
will  follow.  Afterwards  a  clear  tenor  or  baritone  will  be  heard  rising 
from  behind  the  Ikonostasis,  followed  by  the  deep  harmony  of  the 
octave  bass,  which  needs  no  viol  or  organ,  for  it  surpasses  both  in  volume, 
and  is  the  true  vox  liumana. 

The  prayers  are  very  repetitious,  the  phrase  gospode  pomneli,  signify- 
ing "  Lord,  be  merciful,"  being  repeated  scores  of  times.  Prayers  for  the 
Royal  family,  by  name,  are  made  more  of  than  any  other  part  of  the 
service.  The  preaching  fills  an  insignificant  part,  though  it  is  not 
wholly  neglected. 

The  aspect  of  the  worshippers  is  very  devout.  More  men,  and  of  a 
higher  class,  are  seen  in  the  churches  than  in  Roman  Catholic  countries. 


THE    RUSSO-GREEK   CHURCH.  315 

No  Protestant  community  in  the  world  contains  so  large  a  proportion  of 
church-goers.  All  day  long,  and  every  day,  the  people  are  going  and 
coming,  lighting  tapers,  bowing  and  crossing  themselves.  Many  of  the 
most  famous  chapels  are  crowded  constantly. 

The  monasteries  present  a  mediaeval  phase  of  religious  life,  a  vast 
accumulation  of  wealth  and  conclusive  evidence  of  the  unnaturalness 
of  such  segregation  in  the  decline  of  the  controlling  force  by  which 
they  were  founded.  The  Church  seems  absorbed  in  ceremony  and  eccle- 
siasticism  to  the  almost  entire  neglect  of  emotion  and  practical  moral- 
ity, and  to  the  comparative  neglect  of  doctrine.  Intelligent  Russians 
within  and  without  the  Orthodox  Church,  without  exception,  confessed 
that  the  religiosity  of  the  people  has  very  little  influence  upon  their 
morals,  the  religious  feeling  being  absorbed  in  church-going,  pilgrimages 
to  monasteries,  votive  offerings  and  similar  works. 

Such  instances  as  the  following  are  told  among  the  people,  and 
whether  true  or  not,  are  in  harmony  with  the  prevailing  opinion  of  the 
morality  of  the  clergy.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  clergy  are  notorious 
gamblers,  and  it  is  said  that  one  of  them  was  so  intensely  interested  in 
the  game  as  to  pay  no  attention  to  the  ringing  of  the  bells  which  indi- 
cated that  the  time  had  come  for  him  to  perform  his  service.  The 
assistant  came  and  spoke  to  him  several  times,  but  he  paid  no  attention, 
and  went  on  with  the  game.  At  last  the  bells  ceased  and  the  assistant 
came  in  and  succeeded  in  attracting  his  attention.  Intending  to  finish 
the  game  afterwards  he  thrust  the  hand  which  he  held  up  his  sleeve,  and 
went  in.  It  was  his  turn  to  preach,  and  in  the  midst  of  his  discourse, 
forgetting  what  he  had  in  his  sleeve,  he  -made  a  gesture  which  threw  the 
cards  out  and  scattered  them  over  the  floor,  and  the  worshippers  gazed  in 
surprise.  The  priest,  however,  was  equal  to  the  emergency.  Calling 
one  of  the  boys  employed  about  the  altar,  and,  pointing  to  one  of  the 
pictures  of  the  saints,  he  said,  "  Ivan,  of  what  saint  is  that  the  portrait  ?  " 
"  I  do  not  know,"  said  he.  "  And  that  ?  "  "  I  cannot  tell."  And  so  on 
until  he  had  failed  to  answer  several  times.  And  then  pointing  to  the 
cards  he  said,  "  Take  up  that  card  ;  what  is  its  name  ? "  "  The  ace  of 


316  THE   RUSSO-GREEK   CHURCH. 

spades,"  answered  the  boy.  "And  that?"  "The  king  of  diamonds." 
Then  said  the  priest,  "  Sad,  sad  indeed  is  the  condition  of  the  youth  of 
Russia  !  They  don't  know  the  name  of  a  single  saint,  'but  they  can  give 
the  name  of  every  card  in  the  pack  !  "  And  in  this  way  the  ingenious 
priest  passed  it  off  as  an  impressive  object  lesson,  or  a  stratagem  of 
eloquence. 

In  Russia,  Church  and  State  are  more  firmly  united  than  in  any  other 
of  the  great  nations.  The  mass  of  the  people  "  entertain  a  holy  awe 
for  the  Tsar  and  the  Church,  which  two  are  with  them  identical."  Su- 
perstition is  more  prevalent  than  devotion.  In  Moscow  I  saw  crowds 
kissing  the  hand  of  the  Metropolate  which  hung  out  of  his  chariot  as 
limp  and  lifeless  as  the  hand  of  a  dead  man,  and  hundreds  of  women 
struggled  and  fought  until  driven  away  by  the  police,  for  the  privilege  of 
kissing  his  hand. 

Bones  and  other  relics  are  held  in  great  esteem,  and  the  peasantry 
believe  in  anything  that  is  told  them,  and  in  ghosts. 

The  magnificence  of  the  ceremonial  on  great  feast  days,  is  impressive, 
as  Wallace's  account  of  an  Easter  scene  in  Moscow  may  serve  to  show. 
He  says  : 

"  It  was  Easter  eve,  and  I  had  gone  with  a  friend  to  the  Kremlin  to 
witness  the  Easter  ceremonies.  Though  the  rain  was  pouring  heavily, 
an  immense  crowd  of  people  had  assembled  in  and  around  the  cathedral. 
The  crowd  was  of  a  mixed  kind.  There  stood  the  patient,  bearded 
muzhik  (peasant),  in  his  well-worn  sheepskin  ;  the  big,  burly,  self-inter- 
ested merchant,  in  his  long  black  cloth  coat,  the  noble,  with  venerable 
great-coat  and  umbrella  ;  thinly-clad,  romantic  old  women  shivering  in 
the  cold,  and  bright-eyed  young  damsels,  with  their  warm  cloaks  drawn 
closely  around  them  ;  white-haired  old  men,  with  wallet  and  pilgrim  staff, 
and  mischievous  urchins  with  faces  for  the  moment  preternaturally 
demure,  all  standing  patiently  waiting  for  the  announcement  of  the  glad 
tidings,  '  He  is  risen !  '  As  midnight  approached  the  hum  of  voices 
gradually  ceased,  until,  as  the  clock  struck  twelve,  the  deep-toned  bell  of 
Ivan  the  Great  began  to  toll,  and  in  answer  to  this  signal  all  the  bells  in 


THE   RUSSO-GREEK   CHURCH.  317 

Moscow  suddenly  sent  forth  a  merry  peal.  Every  one  held  in  his  hand 
a  lighted  taper,  and  these  thousands  of  little  lights  produced  a  peculiar 
illumination,  giving  to  the  surrounding  buildings  a  picturesqueness  of 
which  they  cannot  boast  in  daylight.  Meanwhile  every  bell  in  Moscow 
—  and  their  name  is  legion  —  seemed  frantically  desirous  of  drowning 
its  neighbor's  voice,  the  solemn  boom  of  the  great  one  overhead  mingling 
curiously  with  the  sharp,  fussy,  '  ting-a-ting-ting  '  of  diminutive  rivals. 
If  demons  dwell  in  Moscow,  and  dislike  bell-ringing,  as  is  generally 
supposed,  then  there  must  have  been  at  that  moment  a  general  stampede 
of  the  powers  of  darkness,  such  as  is  described  by  Milton  in  his  poem 
of  '  Annunciation,'  and  as  if  this  deafening  din  were  not  enough,  big 
guns  were  fired  in  rapid  succession  from  the  battery  of  artillery  close 
at  hand. 

"  How  far  the  introduction  of  artillery  into  the  ceremony  stimulates  the 
general  enthusiasm  of  the  people  I  cannot  say,  but  it  certainly  had  a 
most  wonderful  effect  on  a  Russian  friend  who  accompanied  me.  When 
in  his  normal  condition,  that  gentleman  was  a  quiet,  undemonstrative 
person,  devoted  to  science,  an  adherent  of  Western  civilization  in  gen- 
eral, and  of  Darwinism  in  particular,  and  a  thorough  skeptic  with  regard 
to  all  forms  of  religious  belief.  But  the  influence  of  the  surroundings  — 
especially  of  the  big  guns  —  was  too  much  for  his  philosophical  equa- 
nimity. For  a  moment  his  orthodox  Muscovite  soul  awaked  from  its 
accustomed  skeptical,  cosmopolitan  lethargy.  After  crossing  himself 
rapidly,  an  act  of  devotion  which  I  had  never  before  seen  him  perform, 
he  grasped  my  arm,  and  pointing  to  the  crowd  said  in  an  exultant  tone  of 
voice,  '  Look  there  !  There  is  a  sight  which  you  can  see  nowhere  but  in 
the  White  Stone  City.  Are  not  the  Russians  a  religious  people  ? ' ' 

Another  most  extraordinary  ceremony  was  one  that  I  witnessed  while 
in  St.  Petersburg.  A  procession  of  Greek  priests  from  St.  Isaac's 
Church  went  down  to  the  Neva,  which,  in  some  way,  to  me  unintelli- 
gible, they  proceeded  to  bless.  It  was  not  the  regular  day  for  the  great 
ceremony  of  blessing  the  Neva,  but  they  have  so  many  peculiar  rites 
that  it  was  difficult  to  ascertain  what  this  meant.  An  immense  crowd, 


318  THE   RUSSO-GREEK   CHURCH. 

numbering  perhaps  fifty  thousand  people,  assembled.  The  great  bells 
rang,  and  services  were  held  in  the  church  for  more  than  an  hour.  Men 
preceded  the  priests,  sprinkling  sand  and  ashes  upon  the  street ;  then 
came  the  various  choirs  with  trained  and  surpliced  boys,  who  sang 
exquisitely.  Then  came  the  priests  themselves,  arrayed  in  gorgeous 
robes,  and  finally  an  immense  multitude.  The  platform  had  been 
erected  in  the  river,  to  which  the  priests  repaired. 

The  crowd  reverently  took  off  their  hats.  To  see  what  would  happen 
I  kept  mine  on.  Something  happened  in  a  very  short  space  of  time, 
for  the  Russians  around  me  began  to  howl  with  rage,  and  one  powerful 
fellow  advanced  upon  me,  making  signs  that  if  I  did  not  take  off  my 
hat  he  would  knock  it  off ;  and  I  observed,  from  the  stupendous  size 
of  his  fist,  that  if  he  struck  any  portion  of  the  hat  whatsoever,  the  prob- 
ability was  that  the  head  under  the  hat  would  know  it  by  some  other 
sense  than  that  of  sight.  Having  satisfied  myself  as  to  what  would  hap- 
pen, I  took  off  my  hat  before  anything  further  did  happen.  Afterward 
I  succeeded  in  getting  upon  a  small  steamboat  and  witnessing  the  scene. 

It  was  the  love  of  magnificence  that  led  U>  the  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity into  Russia.  When  Vladimir,  like  the  Japanese  of  to-day,  "  insti- 
tuted a  search  after  the  best  religion,  his  ambassadors  forthwith  visited 
Mussulmans,  Jews  and  Catholics.  .  .  .  Vladimir  declined  Islamism, 
which  prescribed  circumcision  and  forbade  '  the  wine,  which  was  dear  to 
the  Russians  : '  Judaism,  whose  disciples  wandered  through  the  earth  ; 
and  Catholicism,  whose  ceremonies  appeared  wanting  in  magnificence. 
The  deputies  that  he  sent  to  Constantinople,  on  the  contrary,  returned 
awe-stricken.  The  splendors  of  St.  Sophia,  the  brilliancy  of  the  priestly 
vestments,  the  magnificence  of  the  ceremonies,  heightened  by  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Emperor  and  his  court,  the  patriarch  and  the  numerous 
clergy,  the  incense,  the  religious  songs,  had  powerfully  appealed  to  the 
imaginations  of  the  barbarians." 


CHAPTER    XXXVII. 

STRIKING     CEREMONIES. 

WHEN  a  child  is  born,  the  priest  is  summoned  forthwith  to  the 
house.     He  prays  for  the  mother  and  the  child,  and  names  the 
infant,  generally  in   honor  of   some  saint,   and  frequently  the  one  on 
whose  day  the  child  is  born  or  baptized. 

When  a  child  is  baptized,  "  the  number  of  sponsors  is  not  limited, 
and  they  are  strictly  regarded  as  the  spiritual  parents  of  the  new-born 
child.  On  this  account  the  parents  themselves  are  not  present  in  the 
room  where  their  child  is  baptized,  but  the  godparents  take  their 
place.  Moreover,  marriage  is  not  allowed  between  godparents  and 
godchildren,  or  even  between  the  sponsors  themselves." 

When  the  child  is  baptized,  the  priest  takes  off  his  clothes,  turns  him 
toward  the  East,  having  on  only  one  garment.  Then  he  blows  in  his 
face,  signs  him  on  the  forehead  and  breast,  and  prays  for  him.  He 
then  turns  him  toward  the  West  and  asks  him  if  he  renounces  the  devil, 
etc.,  his  sponsors  answering  for  him.  At  the  font  three  candles  are 
lighted,  symbolizing  the  Holy  Trinity.  The  priest  puts  his  fingers  in 
the  water  and  signs  it ;  takes  some  oil  and  pours  it  on  top  of  the  water. 
He  then  takes  some  of  the  oil  with  two  fingers  and  signs  the  candi- 
date with  the  cross,  first  on  the  forehead,  then  on  his  heart,  his  shoul- 
ders, ears,  hands  and  feet.  Then  he  holds  him  upright  with  his  face 
toward  the  East,  and  says  :  "  The  servant  of  God  "  (putting  in  the 
name)  "is  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Father"  (first  immersion),  "and 
of  the  Son  "  (second  immersion),  "  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Amen  " 
(third  immersion);  "now  and  ever,  and  to  ages  of  ages.  Amen." 
(Sprinking  is  allowed  only  in  cases  of  weakness.)  Then  the  white 
baptismal  robe  (the  gift  of  the  godmother)  is  put  upon  the  child  by  the 

319 


320  STRIKING  CEREMONIES. 

priest,  the  cross  (the  gift  of  his  godfather)  is  handed  to  him,  and  the 
service  is  concluded  with  prayers. 

Forty  days  after  the  child  is  born  the  mother  presents  it  to  the 
church  for  her  purification  and  the  presentation  of  the  child  in  the  tem- 
ple of  God.  It  is  not  customary  for  mothers  to  leave  the  house  until 
this  time,  and  "  many  will  not  receive  visitors  until  this  service  has 
been  performed." 

The  marriage  tie  in  Russia  is  loosed  only  by  the  death  of  one  of  the 
parties.  Second  marriages  are  not  encouraged  among  the  laity,  and 
absolutely  refused  to  the  priests.  Third  marriages  are  allowed  to  the 
laity  only  in  the  most  extraordinary  cases ;  and  fourth  marriages  under 
all  circumstances  are  absolutely  forbidden.  Theoretically  divorce  is 
never  allowed  except  when  one  of  the  married  couple  is  guilty  of  infi- 
delity. Marriage,  however,  can  be  severed  by  the  civil  law  in  Russia 
when  one  of  the  parties  is  sentenced  to  Siberia  for  life,  or  is  absent  in 
parts  unknown  for  more  than  five  years. 

Parties  who  intend  to  marry  in  Russia  must  be  of  suitable  age.  The 
law  provides  that  the  bridegroom  shall  not  be  less  than  nineteen  years 
old,  nor  the  bride  less  than  sixteen.  They  must  have  the  consent  of 
the  law  and  of  their  parents  ;  if  the  parents  are  dead,  they  must  have 
the  consent  of  their  sponsors.  Those  who  are  related  even  so  far  as  the 
sixth  generation,  cannot  marry.  Testimonials  on  all  these  points  have 
to  be  presented  to  the  priest,  signed  by  two  or  three  witnesses  on 
both  sides. 

There  are  some  very  singular  laws  on  the  subject  of  marriage.  Banns 
of  matrimony  are  publicly  proclaimed  three  times  in  the  church.  No 
one  can  be  married  without  witnesses.  The  blessing  of  the  parents  is 
always  given  before  that  of  the  priest.  After  prayer  the  parents  give 
them  a  picture  symbolical  of  the  parental  blessing  as  the  youthful  pair 
kneel  before  them  ;  this  picture  is  taken  with  them  to  the  church  and 
to  the  new  home.  The  betrothed  partake  of  the  Holy  Communion  be- 
fore their  nuptials.  "  Many  esteem  matrimony  with  such  reverence 
that  they  will  only  receive  it  fasting,  even  though  its  administration 


CHURCH    MARRIAGE   CEREMONY. 


STRIKING  CEREMONIES.  323 

should  be  late  in  the  evening."  The  ancient  Greek  Church  prohibited 
marriage  at  all  seasons  of  fasting,  since  it  was  usually  a  joyful  occasion. 
In  the  Russian  Church  they  cannot  be  married  on  the  weekly  fast  days 
—  Wednesday  and  Friday  ;  but  since  the  day  begins  at  sunset,  marriage 
may  be  celebrated  on  Wednesday  and  Friday,  but  cannot  be  on  either 
of  the  evenings  preceding  those  days. 

The  public  betrothal  takes  place  before  the  wedding;  generally  im- 
mediately before  the  wedding.  The  bridegroom  comes  first  to  the 
church.  Then  a  lady  friend  of  his  goes  to  bring  the  bride  thither  from 
her  home.  She  bids  farewell  to  her  friends,  and  her  parents  do  not 
attend  the  services  at  the  church.  As  the  bride  enters  a  chant  is  sung, 
and  the  groomsman  arranges  the  position  of  the  couple.  This  is  in  the 
centre  of  the  church,  before  the  Analogion,  the  bridegroom  on  the  right 
and  the  bride  on  the  left,  to  indicate  their  proper  position  in  life.  The 
rings  before  the  betrothal  are  placed  on  the  Holy  Table  in  the  sanctu- 
ary. During  the  betrothal  they  are  taken  from  the  table  and  placed 
upon  the  fingers  with  the  words :  "  The  servant  of  God  "  (name)  "  is 
betrothed  to  the  maid  of  God  "  (name),  and  "  The  maid  of  God  "  (name) 
"  is  betrothed  to  the  servant  of  God  "  (name),  "  in  the  Name  of  the 
Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost.  Amen."  Afterward  the  rings 
are  exchanged  three  times,  "  to  signify  the  full  consent  of  the  parents  to 
the  union,  and  the  perfect  harmony  of  the  wedded  pair." 

Now  follows  the  wedding,  called  in  the  Oriental  Church,  "  Corona- 
tion." The  couple  advance  to  the  Analogion,  the  priest  demands  of 
them  separately  whether  this  is  indeed  an  act  of  their  own  free  will  and 
consent,  and  whether  there  is  any  precontract  which  should  be  an  im- 
pediment to  their  union.  If  they  answer  satisfactorily,  they  stand  upon 
a  rug  of  pink  silk.  This  rug  is  very  small,  scarcely  large  enough  for 
them  to  stand  upon,  to  signify  that  no  third  person  shall  intrude  on 
their  mutual  life.  Then  they  are  crowned.  The  crowns  are  brought 
from  the  Holy  Table  to  the  priest,  who  takes  one  of  them  and  blesses 
the  bridegroom.  The  bridegroom  kisses  the  picture  of  Christ  on  the 
crown,  and  the  priest  then  places  the  crown  on  his  head,  saying,  "  The 


324  STRIKING  CEREMONIES. 

servant  of  God  "  (name)  "  is  crowned  for  the  maid  of  God "  (name), 
"in  the  Name  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Amen."  Then  he  crowns  the  bride  in  the  same  way,  blesses  them 
three  times,  and  says,  "  O  Lord,  our  God,  crown  them  with  honor  and 
glory."  This  completes  the  union,  and  they  are  man  and  wife. 

After  this,  however,  there  are  prayers  by  the  priest,  the  bride  and 
groom  drink  of  a  cup  of  mingled  wine  and  water  alternately  three  times, 
to  signify  that  they  are  each  to  drink  of  the  same  cup,  whether  it  be  of 
joy  or  sorrow,  and  the  service  is  closed  by  a  procession.  "  The  priest 
places  the  right  hand  of  the  bride  in  that  of  the  bridegroom,  takes  both 
in  his  own  right  hand,  and  conducts  them  three  times  around  the  Ana- 
logion,  followed  by  those  holding  the  crowns  over  their  heads,  while 
the  choir  are  chanting.  This  signifies  that  their  happiness  in  life  de- 
pends on  their  walking  in  the  way  of  religion,  while  the  priest  goes  be- 
fore to  show  them  that  they  should  ever  follow  the  guidance  of  the 
Church. 

"  When  the  nuptials  are  concluded,  the  crowns  are  taken  from  their 
heads  to  remind  them  that  joy  must  give  place  to  the  more  serious  cares 
of  life.  As  the  crowns  are  removed  the  priest  salutes  them  with  the 
exclamation  :  '  Be  honored,  O  Bridegroom,  like  Abraham  ;  be  blessed 
like  Isaac  ;  and  increased  like  Jacob  ;  walk  in  peace  and  fulfil  the  com- 
mandments of  God  in  righteousness.'  Then  he  says  to  the  wife  :  'Be 
honored,  O  Bride,  like  Sarah  ;  be  glad  like  Rebekah  ;  and  increased  like 
Rachel ;  take  pleasure  in  thy  husband,  and  observe  the  limits  of  the  law 
according  to  the  pleasure  of  God  ! '  Then  the  newly  married  pair  are 
bidden  to  bow  their  heads  before  the  Lord,  and  the  benediction  is  pro- 
nounced over  them  in  the  Name  of  the  Holy  Trinity." 

After  this  they  kneel  before  the  holy  pictures  and  offer  their  solemn 
prayers  and  thanksgivings  to  God.  Then  they  receive  the  congratu- 
lations of  their  friends,  and  return  to  their  home  where  their  parents 
receive  them  with  the  gift  of  bread  and  salt,  which  signifies  their  wishes 
for  the  future  prosperity  of  the  young  couple. 

Funeral  services  are  elaborate,  solemn,  and  impressive  beyond  any- 


STRIKING  CEREMONIES.  325 

thing  of  the  kind  elsewhere  in  the  world.  I  was  present  at  part  of  a 
funeral  service  while  in  Russia,  but  the  description  here  given  is  by  the 
Rev.  Nicholas  Bj erring,  in  the  work  to  which  reference  has  already  been 
made  : 

"When  the  solemn  moment  of  death  approaches,  a  lighted  candle  is 
put  into  the  hand  of  the  dying  person,  and  the  priest  is  summoned  to  say 
the  prayers  for  the  departing.  Funeral  prayers  are  said  over  every 
Christian  corpse  as  it  is  laid  in  the  coffin,  which  is  sprinkled  with  con- 
secrated water,  and  perfumed  with  myrrh.  Then  the  coffin  and  body 
are  placed  on  a  table  covered  with  a  white  cloth  ;  burning  wax  tapers  are 
arranged  as  a  cross  about  it,  and  at  the  foot  is  a  table  with  a  plate  of 
rice  and  honey. 

"  The  tapers  signify  the  light  of  Faith  in  the  Resurrection,  and  the 
rice  mixed  with  honey  recalls  the  words  of  the  Apostle,  that  the  wheat 
must  fall  into  the  ground  that  it  may  be  quickened.  The  corpse  is  never 
left  alone  a  single  moment,  but  is  constantly  surrounded  by  mourning 
friends.  Three  days  elapse  before  the  burial,  and  the  time  is  usually 
spent  in  reading  the  Psalms  of  David,  interrupted  occasionally  by  the 
prayers  of  the  clergy.  The  burial  is  usually  from  the  church,  so  that  it 
takes  place  during  the  hours  of  the  morning. 

"  When  the  church  bell  begins  to  toll,  the  clergy  repair  to  the  house 
of  mourning,  say  a  prayer  there,  and  then  the  funeral  procession  goes  on 
to  the  church.  The  clergy  in  their  mourning-robes  pass  on  in  front, 
chanting ;  the  body  follows,  borne  on  a  bier  or  in  a  hearse.  In  the 
church  the  open  coffin  is  placed  in  the  middle  aisle,  and  the  liturgy  for 
the  departed  is  said,  while  the  relatives  stand  around  the  coffin.  After 
the  liturgy,  the  clergy  surround  the  body,  and  say  the  burial  prayers, 
while  all  present  bear  lighted  tapers  in  their  hands.  At  the  closing 
hymn  all  press  toward  the  corpse,  and  imprint  a  farewell  kiss  upon  its 
lips.  Then  the  body  is  borne  from  the  church  to  the  churchyard,  where 
the  priest  says  a  short  prayer,  and  the  coffin  is  lowered  into  the  grave. 
While  the  grave  is  filled,  the  service  closes  with  the  words,  'May  thy 
memory  endure  forever  ! ' ' 


CHAPTER   XXXVIII. 

DISSENTING     SECTS     IN     RUSSIA. 

LARGE  bodies  of  Dissenters  from  the  Orthodox  Faith  exist  in 
Russia,  numbering  almost  one  in  six  of  the  entire  population. 
This  is  against  the  law,  which  declares  that  if  a  member  of  the  Russo- 
Greek  Church  renounces  his  faith  he  may  be  punished  by  detention  in  a 
convent  for  life.  Peter  the  Great  exerted  his  vast  power  to  suppress 
dissent,  but  in  this  he  failed.  For  though  he  persecuted  Dissenters  so 
relentlessly  that  many  fled  from  Moscow  into  remote  forests,  and  even  to 
Vologda  and  Siberia,  and  many  more  went  to  Austria,  Poland,  Turkey 
and  Asia  Minor,  it  was  true  of  these  Dissenters  as  of  the  Israelites  in 
Egypt,  "  that  the  more  they  afflicted  them,  the  more  they  multiplied  and 
grew."  They  are  divided  among  themselves,  only  agreeing  in  denounc- 
ing the  Orthodox  Church.  A  fact  equally  remarkable  and  deplorable  is 
that  the  worse  and  more  fanatical  any  sect  of  Dissenters  in  Russia  is,  the 
more  rapidly  it  grows. 

The  sect  of  the  Molokani  was  investigated  by  McKenzie  Wallace,  who 
claims  that  it  much  resembles  Presbyterianism.  They  take  for  their 
ecclesiastical  organization  as  a  model,  the  Apostolic  Church  as  described 
in  the  New  Testament.  They  have  no  hierarchy,  and  no  paid  clergy,  but 
choose  for  themselves,  and  from  among  themselves,  a  presbyter  and  two 
assistants.  As  the  law  does  not  allow  them  to  build  churches,  they  hold 
meetings  in  private  houses.  Their  moral  supervision  is  severe  ;  if  any 
member  has  committed  an  offence,  he  is  admonished  by  the  presbyter  in 
private,  and,  ;n  extreme  cases,  before  the  congregation.  If  this  does 
not  accomplish  his  reformation,  he  is  debarred  from  all  intercourse  with 
the  members.  They  will  not  eat  pork,  and  Mr.  Wallace  had  a  long 
argument  with  them  upon  that  subject,  during  which  he  was  amazed  at 

326 


DISSENTING  SECTS   IN   RUSSIA.  327 

the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  by  the  peasants.  If  he  indicated  any 
passage  that  he  needed,  they  at  once  supplied  it  verbatim  :  "  three  or 
four  of  them  knew  the  New  Testament  by  heart."  He  conjectures  that 
they  number  several  hundred  thousands  of  members,  and  they  are  most 
numerous  in  the  southeastern  districts  of  Samara  on  the  north  coast  of 
the  sea  of  Azof,  in  the  Crimea,  in  the  Caucasus,  and  in  Siberia.  Many 
of  them  are  still  in  the  central  region,  especially  in  the  province  of 
Tambof. 

Other  sects  are  simply  evangelical  Protestants,  but  still  others  are  of 
the  wildest  and  most  fanatical  type.  Some  abhor  marriage,  practice  the 
most  rigorous  fasting,  and  surpass  any  other  sects  of  which  history  gives 
an  account  in  asceticism.  In  some  of  their  debates  they  become 
jealous  of  each  other,  and  contend  as  to  which  has  the  most  grace  and 
power.  When  their  anger  reaches  a  certain  degree  of  rage,  they  strike 
each  other  "  on  the  ear,  and  he  who  bears  the  blows  most  patiently,  turn- 
ing the  other  cheek  to  the  assailant,  acquires  the  reputation  of  having 
the  most  holiness."  This  is  from  an  account  of  the  "  Khlysti." 

The  following  account  of  the  "Jumpers  "  presents  a  very  remarkable 
similarity  to  the  "  Jerkers,"  who  arose  in  the  Southwest,  in  this  country, 
at  camp-meetings,  in  the  early  part  of  the  century. 

"  After  due  preparation  prayers  are  read  by  the  chief  teacher,  dressed 
in  a  white  robe  and  standing  in  the  midst  of  the  congregation.  At  first 
he  reads  in  an  ordinary  tone  of  voice,  and  then  passes  gradually  into  a 
merry  chant.  When  he  remarks  that  the  chanting  has  sufficiently  acted 
upon  the  hearers,  he  begins  to  jump ;  the  hearers,  singing  likewise,  follow 
his  example.  Their  ever-increasing  excitement  finds  expression  in  the 
highest  possible  jumps.  This  they  continue  as  long  as  possible  — 
men  and  women  alike  yelling  like  enraged  savages.  When  a,i  are  thor- 
oughly exhausted,  the  leader  declares  that  he  hears  the  angels  singing," 
—  and  then  begins  a  scene  which  is  said  to  be  such  as  not  to  admit  of 
description. 

Of  course,  as  Wallace  observes,  most  of  what  is  known  of  these  sects 
is  furnished  by  their  enemies. 


328  DISSENTING   SECTS   IN   RUSSIA. 

There  are  probably  twelve  million  of  dissenters  of  different  views  at 
the  present  time  in  Russia.  The  two  principal  divisions  are  the  Bez- 
popovtsy,  and  the  Popovtsy.  The  former  is  the  more  numerous ;  and 
they  call  the  Orthodox  Church  anti-Christ.  They  denounce  its  ceremo- 
nies as  sacrilegious,  and  its  followers  as  children  of  the  Devil ;  they  will 
not  pray  for  the  Tsar;  they  profess  to  reject  marriage;  have  two  sacra- 
ments, baptism  and  confession,  which  rites  may  be  administered  by  all 
members  alike,  even  by  woman.  "  They  believe  that  suicide  by  voluntary 
starvation,  or  burning  alive,  which  they  call  purifying  by  the  immaculate 
baptism  of  fire,  is  the  most  meritorious  action  that  a  believer  ca.n  per- 
form." 

The  practices  of  some  of  the  sects  are  too  horrible  to  be  described. 

If  the  officials  and  the  priests  personally  are  treated  with  respect,  and 
their  revenues  are  not  diminished,  they  are  comparatively  tolerant  of 
any  Protestants  who  did  not  secede  from  the  Orthodox  Church.  Yet  at 
any  moment  persecution  more  or  less  severe,  individual  or  general,  may 
arise.  While  I  was  in  St.  Petersburg,  two  very  eminent  citizens,  nobles, 
were  ordered  to  quit  the  Empire  for  no  other  offence  than  using  "  Gos- 
pel hymns,"  giving  Bible  readings,  and  doing  mission  work  among  the 
common  people. 

A  society  for  the  promotion  of  religious  and  moral  reading,  known  as 
the  Russian  Tract  Society  of  St.  Petersburg,  had  a  charter  granted, 
November  4  and  November  16,  1876,  by  Imperial  sanction.  This  so- 
ciety was  abolished  by  Imperial  order  of  May  24,  and  June  5,  1884, 
the  supposed  reason  being  that  the  publications  of  the  Society  are 
alleged  to  contain  matters  subversive  of  the  Confessions  of  Faith  of  the 
Orthodox  Russo-Greek  Church.  No  official  explanation  was  communi- 
cated in  writing  to  the  Board  of  Managers,  but  verbally  to  two  of  its 
most  prominent  members.  These  two  were  Col.  Pashkoff  and  Count 
Korff.  These  gentlemen  were  placed  under  the  ban  of  expatriation  for 
refusing  to  sign  the  following  declarations  : 

"  i.     Not  to  circulate  tracts." 

"2.     Not  to  hold  or  conduct  devotional  meetings,  Bible  readings." 


DISSENTING   SECTS   IN   RUSSIA.  329 

"  3.  To  cease  intercourse  or  communion  with  the  so-called  Baptists 
or  Stundists." 

The  tracts  found  at  the  society's  agency  were  taken  in  charge  by 
the  police.  Col.  Pashkoff  was  allowed  to  remain  in  St.  Petersburg  till 
June  1 6.  Count  Korff,  for  domestic  reasons,  was  permitted  to  follow 
later.  Col.  Pashkoff' s  estates  in  various  parts  of  the  Empire  were 
to  be  turned  over  to  trustees  partly  appointed  by  the  Government,  if 
he  does  not  cease  intercourse  with  the  "  Sects." 

The  above  memorandum  was  drawn  up  by  one  to  whom  the  official 
notice  of  suspension  of  the  Society  was  sent. 

The  "  Holy  Synod  "  has  a  monopoly  of  the  printing  of  the  Scriptures. 
The  Russian  Bible,  like  the  Roman  Catholic,  includes  the  Apocrypha. 
The  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  has  to  buy  all  its  Bibles  for  dis- 
tribution in  Russia,  from  the  Government.  It  does  not  believe  in  the 
canonical  authority  or  inspiration  of  the  Apocryphal  books.  To  dis- 
tribute what  it  does  believe,  it  obtained,  after  long  solicitation,  a  conces- 
sion to  distribute  the  Bible  "  in  sections :  "  so  buys  the  whole,  circu- 
lates the  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and  charges  the  Apocrypha  to 
profit  and  loss. 

The  Russo-Greek  Church  is  a  splendid  pageant  upholding  the  Empire, 
and  by  it  upheld :  an  essential  bulwark  and  pliant  servant  of  absolutism. 
If  the  autocracy  ever  falls,  the  Church  will  disintegrate.  If  Protestant- 
ism, or  rationalism,  or  the  freedom  of  the  press  and  of  discussion  were 
to  spread  in  Russia,  the  Church  would  collapse,  and,  the  Empire  de- 
prived of  its  support,  would  become  a  limited  monarchy  or  enter  upon  a 
period  of  revolutionary  struggle. 


CHAPTER   XXXIX. 

THE    JEWS     IN     RUSSIA. 

FOR  a  long  time,  but  specially  during  the  last  ten  years,  attention 
has  been  attracted  in  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world  to  the  con- 
dition of  the  Jews  in  European  Russia.  Travellers  have  written  of 
their  wretched  state,  telegraph  dispatches  of  anti-Jew  riots  are  fre- 
quently published,  and  tales  of  Jewish  refugees  are  confirmed  in  all 
essential  points  by  disinterested  observers. 

Of  late,  several  treatises  upon  the  subject,  notably  one  by  Count 
Demidoff,  have  appeared,  and  the  subject  can  be  investigated  with 
much  less  difficulty  than  heretofore. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  the  doctrine  was  that  Jews  had  no  rights  in  a 
Christian  State.  Where  they  staid  it  was  by  purchased  immunity. 
They  were  expelled  from  England,  France,  Spain  and  Portugal  —  Spain 
making  her  decree  the  very  year  that  Columbus  discovered  America. 
In  the  eighth  century  they  appeared  in  great  numbers  in  Russia,  and 
settled  upon  the  Volga.  The  thirteenth  volume  of  the  new  edition  of 
the  Encyclopaedia  Brittanica  says  that  the  legend  is  that  it  was  for 
a  time  uncertain  whether  Pagan  Russia  would  accept  Christianity  or 
Judaism.  When  the  Germans  persecuted  the  Jews  a  great  multitude 
of  them  went  into  Poland,  where,  to  this  day,  many  speak  a  mixture  of 
German  and  Hebrew.  The  number  of  Jews  in  European  Russia  is 
about  three  million ;  in  Asiatic  Russia  there  are  not  more  than  thirty 
thousand. 

Though  the  spirit  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  the  Middle  Ages 
did  not  directly  affect  the  action  of  Russia,  the  same  causes  which  led 
to  it  have  operated  in  that  Empire.  The  Jews  are  a  hated  race ; 
separated  by  physiognomy,  by  religion,  and  by  the  rite  of  circumcision. 

33° 


THE  JEWS   IN   RUSSIA.  331 

Shunned  by  others,  they  are  of  necessity  a  clannish  people.  "  It  is  not 
because  they  are  not  Christians,  but  because  they  are  Jews,  that  they 
are  hated  "  ;  and  it  is  not  because  their  ancestors  crucified  Christ  that 
they  are  despised.  It  is  because  of  their  exclusiveness,  and  their  pros- 
perity obtained  without  manual  labor,  that  they  are  the  subjects  of  such 
dislike  and  jealousy  from  the  lower,  and  of  such  indifference  from  the 
higher  classes. 

From  Russia  proper,  with  certain  exceptions,  they  are  excluded  bylaw. 
But  in  many  towns  and  provinces  where  they  cannot  remain  legally, 
they  do  live,  and  are  liable  at  any  time  to  be  ordered  to  remove  at  what- 
ever loss  or  damage  to  their  property.  An  instance  of  liberalizing  the 
laws  within  a  few  years,  that  is,  in  the  reign  of  Alexander  II.,  shows  how 
they  had  been  treated  up  to  that  time.  By  a  ukase  he  gave  permission 
for  "  three  Jews  to  settle  at  each  railway  station " !  Exclusion  from 
Russia  proper  keeps  them  in  the  over-crowded  districts  where  the 
struggle  for  subsistence  is  almost  unendurable.  On  them  also  are  placed 
the  most  embarrassing  restrictions  and  the  heaviest  special  taxes.  In 
many  sections  they  are  forbidden  to  till  the  soil ;  and  that  where  there 
is  hardly  anything  else  that  can  be  done. 

Some  exceptions  in  the  law  limiting  them  to  districts  are  worthy  of 
special  notice.  Every  Jew  who  does  a  business  of  the  first  rank,  or  who 
pays  a  tax  of  a  thousand  roubles  or  more,  is  exempt ;  every  Jew  having 
a  university  degree,  and  artisans,  under  certain  conditions,  are  allowed 
to  settle  where  they  please.  Nevertheless,  these  laws  are  evaded  :  on 
the  one  side  by  the  Government,  which  by  various  local  restrictions 
harasses  the  Jews  who  would  remove,  on  the  other  by  the  Jews  them- 
selves, some  of  whom  travel  as  artisans  when  their  real  business  is 
money-changing. 

Like  the  rest  of  the  population,  they  are  liable  to  conscription  into 
the  army,  but  are  not  allowed  promotion.  Tradition  says  that  the 
Emperor  Nicholas,  on  Easter  morning,  coming  out  of  his  room  saluted 
the  sentry  according  to  custom,  "  Christ  is  risen."  He  was  astonished  to 
hear  the  reply,  "Not  at  all,  Your  Imperial  Majesty."  An  explanation 


332  THE  JEWS   IN   RUSSIA. 

being  demanded  of  his  unparalleled  effrontery,  he  told  the  Emperor  that 
he  was  a  Jew,  and  could  not  conscientiously  admit  that  Christ  had  risen. 
The  legend  also  says  that  Nicholas  was  so  pleased  with  "  the  man  who 
gave  him  the  new  sensation  of  being  contradicted,"  that  he  gave  him  a 
valuable  present. 

Notwithstanding  these  exactions  and  oppressive  restrictions,  the  Jews 
as  a  class  are  the  most  prosperous  citizens  in  Russia.  Among  them  are 
some  of  the  wealthiest  bankers,  the  greatest  lawyers,  the  largest  manu- 
facturers and  contractors,  and  the  most  noted  physicians  and  surgeons. 
A  Russian  woman  who  hated  them  said  that  they  began  to  steal  as 
soon  as  they  went  to  school ;  "  for  they  pay  for  only  one,  and  learn  enough 
for  two ; "  an  expression  which  has  lately  been  uttered  as  original  in 
England. 

Their  relation  to  the  average  Russian  population,  high  and  low,  is 
peculiar.  Few  Russians  have  any  ready  cash.  The  Jews  are  rarely 
without  it.  The  Russian  noblemen,  previous  to  the  emancipation  of 
their  serfs,  were  improvident ;  rarely  forecasting.  Many  are  so  now. 
When  pressed  for  money  to  whom  shall  they  go  but  to  the  Jew  ?  for 
none  is  so  certain  to  have  it  as  he.  He  will  furnish  it  as  banker,  pawn- 
broker or  trader.  Interest  accumulates  ;  in  a  few  years  the  improvident 
Russian  is  poor,  the  shrewd  and  saving  Jew  is  rich.  The  impoverished 
look  with  envy  upon  them,  and  instead  of  blaming  themselves  for  their 
thoughtlessness  and  extravagance,  count  the  Jew  as  the  man  who  has 
in  some  way  swindled  and  robbed  them. 

To  deal  with  low-class  Russians,  there  are  low-class  Jews.  In  many 
places  the  Jews  keep  most  of  the  clothing  and  jewelry  stores,  many  of 
the  groceries  and  vegetable  stands,  and  most  of  the  liquor  saloons. 
When  a  Russian  peasant  receives  his  wages  he  goes  at  once  to  the 
nearest  saloon  and  begins  to  drink. 

While  in  the  place  he  spends  the  larger  part  of  his  money,  and  in 
various  ways  is  robbed  of  most  of  what  is  left,  but  never  of  all.  If  he 
makes  a  disturbance  he  is  directly  handed  over  to  the  police.  Of  the 
police  he  gets  no  redress,  unless  there  be  absolutely  nothing  in  his. 


THE  JEWS    IN    RUSSIA.  333 

pockets.  If  there  be  anything  left,  that  is  taken,  and  he  is  turned  out  to 
shift  for  himself.  Understanding  the  situation,  the  Jewish  liquor  seller 
will  never  allow  a  customer  to  be  given  over  to  the  police  wholly  penni- 
less. The  reader  must  not  suppose  that  this  is  intended  to  represent 
the  universal  condition,  but  it  is  a  true  description  of  many  instances 
which  occur  among  the  lower  classes. 

When  the  pawnbroker,  clothing  merchant,  money  lender  or  liquor 
seller  has  enriched  himself  by  any  of  these  modes,  it  is  easy  to  fancy 
how  little  will  be  required  to  incite  a  riot  against  the  Jew,  hated  for  his 
race  and  religion,  among  an  ignorant,  hard-working,  intemperate,  quick- 
tempered and  poverty-stricken  peasantry.  Nor  does  the  Government 
interfere  except  in  extreme  cases  ;  for  so  long  as  the  passions  of  the 
people  find  vent  thus,  there  is  less  danger  of  their  mingling  in  destruc- 
tive revolutionary  schemes. 

A  few  days  before  my  arrival  at  the  Great  Fair  at  Nijni-Novgorod,  a 
bloody  riot  arose  and  continued  for  several  days,  in  the  course  of  which 
many  Jews  were  maltreated,  several  killed,  and  much  property  destroyed. 
I  had  the  opportunity  of  ascertaining  its  causes  from  merchants,  foreign 
residents  and  Russians.  The  ostensible  occasion  was  that  Jews  had 
settled  where  they  had  no  legal  right  to  be,  and  were  doing  business 
contrary  to  law ;  but  the  real  causes  were  such  as  have  been  sketched 
above. 

To  a  full  understanding  of  the  subject,  it  must  be  understood  that 
many  of  the  Russian  Jews  are  exceedingly  filthy,  violating  most  of  the 
sanitary  regulations  of  Moses — regulations  to  which,  when  observed, 
they  owe  their  exemption  from  many  diseases,  and  their  greater  average 
duration  of  life  in  most  parts  of  the  world.  To  be  more  filthy  than  the 
most  degraded  of  the  Russian  peasantry  may  be  thought  impossible, 
yet  few  who  have  narrowly  examined  the  Jews'  quarter  in  Warsaw,  will 
maintain  that  view. 

On  the  whole  the  condition  of  the  Jews  in  Russia  is  most  deplorable  ; 
debarred  from  pursuing  legitimate  vocations,  oppresssd  by  heavy  taxes, 
confined  to  overcrowded  districts,  and  harassed  by  many  annoyances, 


334  THE   JEWS   IN   RUSSIA. 

they  are  persecuted  when  they  try  to  make  a  living  by  the  only  means 
left  to  them. 

Nothwithstanding  all,  they  succeed ;  and  in  Russia,  as  in  Germany, 
jealousy  of  their  success  in  trade,  and  in  the  learned  professions,  has 
aroused  mediaeval  hate  to  a  fanatical  heat.  Its  only  means  of  expres- 
sion in  Germany  are  social  ostracism  and  an  attempt  at  what,  in  Ire- 
land, is  called  "  boycotting."  In  Russia  the  vindictive  spirit  is  greatly 
stimulated,  and  its  manifestation  made  easy  by  the  laws. 


CHAPTER   XL. 

NIHILISM. 

OF  Nihilism  the  most  conflicting  accounts  have  been  written,  and 
travellers  from  Russia  seem  to  vie  with  each  other  in  the  narra- 
tion of  tales  which  tax  credulity.  Several  careful  writers  have  adopted 
peculiar  notions  upon  the  subject,  and  have  applied  both  learning  and 
ability  to  sustaining  their  views,  apparently  regardless  as  to  whether 
their  presentation  of  the  subject  be  complete  and  symmetrical  or  other- 
wise. 

On  no  subject  have  the  results  of  reading  been  more  unsatisfactory, 
and  for  a  number  of  years  I  have  had  an  intense  curiosity  to  investigate 
Nihilism  in  the  land  of  the  Tsar  and  the  Nihilist,  and  this  was  the 
controlling  cause  of  my  visit  to  Russia. 

Before  arriving  in  the  country  I  conversed  with  travellers  to  whom 
access  could  be  obtained,  and  especially  with  Russians  who  could  be  found 
wandering  about  Europe,  either  as  refugees,  in  the  pursuit  of  pleasure, 
or  on  official  and  commercial  business.  And  it  was  well  that  I  did  so, 
for  the  average  Russian,  in  Russia,  will  not  talk  about  Nihilism.  He  will 
tell  you  that  he  "  knows  nothing  "  about  it ;  he  has,  indeed,  "  heard  about 
it,"  but  has  "never  seen  anything  of  it."  He  is  a  thorough  agnostic, 
and  does  not  believe  that  anyone  not  a  Nihilist  can  learn  anything  more 
than  he  knows.  He  will  admit  that  there  are  persons  called  Nihilists, 
but  whether  they  are  few  or  many,  or  have  a  common  understanding,  he 
thinks  no  one  can  tell.  I  heard  such  expressions  many  times. 

In  the  United  States  it  is  possible  to  induce  even  an  unwilling 
citizen  to  talk,  or,  if  he  will  not  do  so,  he  may  unwittingly  communicate 
information  by  his  attitude  or  expression  when  ingenious  questions  are 
propounded  ;  but  in  Russia,  if  the  inquiries  were  repeated,  the  persons 

335 


336  NIHILISM. 

questioned  became  silent  and  moody.  In  some  cases  they  suggested 
that  if  the  traveller  did  not  wish  to  get  into  trouble,  he  had  better  not 
talk  much  about  it. 

Of  course  there  were  in  Russia,  as .  there  are  in  every  country,  some 
who  seemed  to  delight  in  "tricks  upon  travellers,"  and  would  talk  with 
seeming  abandon  until  the  listener  was  surfeited  with  tales  little  less 
monstrous  than  those  of  the  Arabian  Nights. 

Newspapers  in  Russia  furnish  little  information.  Public  meetings  are 
not  allowed,  and  admission  cannot  be  obtained  to  the  courts  when  cases 
of  real  or  suspected  Nihilism  are  examined.  Russian  books  treat  the 
subject  generally  either  from  a  prejudiced  or  a  partisan  point  of  view. 
Every  source  of  intelligence  chiefly  depended  upon  in  other  countries,  is 
cancelled,  and  a  failure  to  understand  the  Russian  language  apparently 
completes  the  blockade. 

Much  general  information,  however,  can  be  procured  from  the  diplo- 
matic representatives  of  other  countries,  and  general  foreign  ambassa- 
dors, who  have  long  lived  in  Russia.  In  my  first  conversations  with 
these,  the  subject  appeared  greatly  simplified.  I  thought  I  would  soon 
learn  a  great  deal ;  but  after  a  little  while  it  appeared  that  these  per- 
sons held  contradictory  opinions  on  the  same  matters  of  fact.  For 
example,  I  propounded  a  question  to  two  merchants,  of  equally  high 
standing,  on  two  different  occasions.  That  question  was,  "  What  is  your 
opinion  of  the  number  of  Nihilists  in  Russia  ?  That  is,  are  those  Nihi- 
lists who  are  organized  and  cognizant  in  general  of  the  purposes  of 
the  society,  and  to  some  extent  of  their  plans,  large  or  small  ? "  One 
answered,  "I  do  not  believe  that  there  are  five  thousand  in  all  Russia." 
The  other  estimated  them  at  three  quarters  of  a  million.  Yet  each 
claimed  to  have  unusual  opportunities  for  knowing. 

After  this  I  began  to  think  that  Russia  was  the  last  place  to  investigate 
Nihilism,  unless  one  could  become  a  Nihilist,  or  an  agent  of  the  Russian 
Government. 

But  in  all  investigations,  accidents  frequently  and  suddenly  change 
the  situation.  I  had  an  interview  on  a  steamer  with  an  official  of  the 


NIHILISM.  337 

Russian  Government.  Like  most  educated  Russians,  he  could  speak  sev- 
eral languages,  and  was  proud  of  his  ability  to  speak  English.  When  I 
met  him,  he  was  slightly  intoxicated.  Unfolding  the  subject  in  answer 
to  my  inquiries,  he  communicated  many  particulars,  some  of  which 
seemed  improbable,  not  so  much  from  their  intrinsic  character,  as  because 
if  they  were  true,  it  was  almost  incredible  that  a  Russian  official,  even 
when  he  was  in  an  "artificial  condition,"  would  tell  them  to  an  entire 
stranger. 

Afterward,  I  had  a  conversation  with  a  Russian  of  eminence,  to  whom 
I  was  introduced  in  a  way  that  gave  him  confidence,  and  found  that  all 
that  the  Russian  official  had  told  me  of  which  this  gentleman  had  any 
knowledge,  was  correctly  represented. 

A  collateral  proof  was  the  manner  in  which  the  narrator  before  we 
parted  finally  (we  travelled  a  long  distance  together)  threw  himself  upon 
my  honor,  and  implored  me  not  to  mention  his  name  as  authority. 
Another  accident  was  a  similar  meeting  with  a  Nihilist,  who,  on  some 
subjects,  talked  without  reserve. 

The  advantages  of  these  interviews  did  not  depend  entirely  upon  the 
facts  obtained,  for  they  gave  such  a  knowledge  of  the  subject  as  enabled 
me  to  stimulate  conversation  with  others,  glean  facts  from  hints,  and 
estimate  the  probability  and  value  of  each  statement. 

My  ignorance  of  the  language  had  both  advantages  and  disadvantages. 
The  disadvantages  are  obvious ;  but  in  such  a  country  as  Russia,  it  has 
decided  advantages.  No  Russian  suspected  me,  and  it  compelled  cau- 
tion, and  painstaking  comparison  of  views  derived  from  different  sources 
with  each  other  and  with  standard  authorities. 

From  the  time  Russia  was  made  one  Empire  under  the  Tsars  its 
history  had  been  similar  in  most  respects  to  that  of  other  absolute  mon- 
archies. Until  the  rise  of  Peter  the  Great,  various  reformations  had 
been  projected,  and  much  that  he  accomplished  had  been  attempted 
centuries  before ;  but  in  every  case  a  reaction  followed.  Conflicts  oc- 
curred between  rival  claimants  to  the  throne ;  the  nobles  sometimes 
revolted  ;  certain  districts  became  dissatisfied  ;  insurrections  were  not 


338  NIHILISM. 

uncommon  among  the  peasantry ;  but  all  were  suppressed  by  force,  and 
no  trace  of  organized  opposition  to  the  reign  of  the  Tsars  was  left. 

Peter  the  Great  began  his  reign  in  the  midst  of  struggles,  but  they 
affected  only  those  who  were  engaged  in  them.  Finally  he  trampled  all 
his  foes  under  his  feet,  shut  up  his  sister  Sophia  in  a  convent  for  life, 
and  began  the  most  amazing  course  run  by  any  emperor  in  modern 
times.  Though  a  "reformer,"  he  was  not  less,  but  more  an  autocrat 
than  his  predecessors  ;  but  he  aroused  more  general  opposition  than 
any  other  before  him,  especially  upon  the  subject  of  religion. 

When  Peter  the  Great  abolished  the  Patriarchate,  and  established 
what  he  called  the  Holy  Synod,  Church  and  State  were  as  thoroughly 
identified  as  ever  they  were  in  the  Papal  Kingdom.  Vastly  more  so 
than  in  England,  or  any  other  Protestant  country,  whatever  views  of  the 
relation  of  the  head  of  the  State  to  the  head  of  the  Church  may  have 
prevailed.  This  has  already  been  made  clear  in  the  description  of  the 
coronation  of  the  Tsar. 

The  succession  of  events  between  the  death  of  Peter  the  Great  and 
the  accession  of  Nicholas,  did  not  materially  change  the  situation. 
Nicholas  believed  that  he  was  the  vicegerent  of  God,  and  that  every 
one  who  disobeyed  him  was  a  rebel,  not  only  against  him,  but  against 
the  Almighty.  In  the  time  of  Nicholas,  Russia  was  an  absolute  despot- 
ism, with  few  redeeming  features.  The  press  was  muzzled,  the  school 
books  were  expurgated,  the  entire  force  of  the  Empire  was  devoted  to 
barring  out  the  influence  of  Western  nations,  preventing  the  enlighten- 
ment of  the  people,  and  beating  back  the  waves  of  liberal  sentiment 
which  occasionally  arose  under  unendurable  oppositions.  In  December, 
1825,  an  attempt  was  made  to  kill  Nicholas.  It  was  unsuccessful,  but 
a  gigantic  conspiracy  was  unearthed. 

One  of  the  survivors  and  active  members  of  that  conspiracy,  a  noble- 
man who  had  been  exiled  in  Siberia  for  many  years,  having  been  par- 
doned in  the  late  reign,  was  living  while  I  was  in  Moscow,  and  an 
interesting  interview  with  him  was  published  in  the  London  "Times  "  of 
August  15,  1884. 


NIHILISM.  341 

Nicholas  died  at  the  close  of  the  Crimean  War,  a  disappointed, 
wretched  man.  His  son,  Alexander  II.,  then  came  to  the  throne.  A 
Russian  writer  describes  the  change  and  the  spirit  of  the  people  in  the 
following  graphic  passage  : 

"  The  first  year  of  the  present  reign  awakened  in  the  hearts  of  the 
Russian  people  the  most  sanguine  hopes.  Almost  immediately  after 
the  death  of  Nicholas  the  whole  system  of  Government  changed 
abruptly.  The  preparatory  measures  to  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs 
were  begun,  the  press  was  given  a  freedom  of  speech  almost  unpre- 
cedented in  Russia,  and  the  system  of  instruction  underwent  a  most 
radical  reform.  The  courts,  the  army,  the  local  administration,  in  short, 
every  branch  of  Government  was  revised  and  reformed,  and  a  new 
life  seemed  to  spring  up  amid  the  ruins  of  the  former  tyranny." 

The  Government  as  left  by  Alexander  II.  may  be  generally  described 
thus  :  while  the  power  of  the  Tsar  is  absolute,  the  administration  of 
the  Government  is  committed  to  four  Councils  :  the  Council  of  the  Em- 
pire, the  Holy  Synod,  the  Senate,  and  the  Council  of  Ministers.  The 
Council  of  Ministers  consists,  as  its  name  implies,  of  the  ministerial 
heads  of  departments,  of  whom  there  are  eight.  But  each  of  these 
departments  is  divided  and  subdivided  into  from  three  to  six  more,  and 
the  whole  administration  is  conducted  through  Bureaus,  and  is  the  most 
complete  illustration  of  "  Bureaucracy  "  which  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
These  departments  all  have  their  official  organs,  and  the  "General 
Messenger"  is  the  general  organ  of  the  Imperial  Government.  No 
information  concerning  the  Tsar,  or  anything  he  does,  can  be  published 
in  any  periodical  in  Russia  unless  derived  from  the  "  Messenger." 
The  Government  also  issues  another  paper  called  the  "  Village  Mes- 
senger," which  appears  once  a  week,  and  is  intended  for  country  dis- 
tricts. Much  that  is  left  to  private  enterprise  in  other  countries,  is  held 
in  Russia  as  a  monopoly  by  the  Government. 

In  1 86 1  the  serfs  were  emancipated.  The  effect  upon  the  people  of 
the  United  States  was  electrical.  The  civil  war  was  beginning,  and  the 
emancipation  proclamation  of  Alexander  was  used  to  "  fire  the  Northern 


342  NIHILISM. 

heart."  Haters  of  our  country  in  monarchies  satirized  our  struggling 
republic  by  contrasting  it  with  a  hereditary  despotism,  which  at  a  single 
stroke  broke  the  manacles  from  twenty-three  million  serfs.  The  effect 
was  greatly  increased  when  Alexander  instructed  Prince  Gortchakoff,  the 
chancellor,  to  communicate  to  the  President  of  the  United  States  "  the 
deep  interest  with  which  the  Emperor  was  observing  the  development  of 
a  crisis  which  puts  in  question  the  prosperity  and  even  the  existence  of 
the  Union,"  and  to  say  that,  "  for  the  more  than  eighty  years  that  it  has 
existed,  the  American  Union  owes  its  independence,  its  towering  rise 
and  its  progress  to  the  concord  of  its  members,  consecrated  under  the 
auspices  of  its  illustrious  founder,  by  institutions  which  have  been  able 
to  reconcile  union  and  liberty.  This  union  has  been  fruitful ;  it  has  ex- 
hibited to  the  world  the  spectacle  of  a  prosperity  without  example  in  the 
annals  of  history.  ...  In  any  event,  the  sacrifices  which  they 
might  impose  upon  themselves  to  maintain  it  are  beyond  comparison 
with  those  which  dissolution  would  bring  after  it.  United,  they  perfect 
themselves  ;  isolated,  they  are  paralyzed.  .  .  .  This  union  is  not 
simply  in  our  eyes  an  element  essential  to  the  universal  equilibrium.  It 
constitutes,  besides,  a  nation  to  which  our  august  master,  and  all  Russia, 
have  pledged  the  most  friendly  interest ;  for  the  two  countries,  placed  at 
the  extremities  of  the  two  worlds,  both  in  the  ascending  period  of  their 
development,  appear  called  to  a  natural  community  of  interests  and  sym- 
pathies of  which  they  have  already  given  mutual  proofs  to  each  other." 
The  contrast  between  these  expressions  and  those  of  most  other  nations 
should  never  be  forgotten. 

But  the  emancipation  of  the  serfs  did  not  please  all  Russia.  Many  of 
the  serfs  themselves  were  dissatisfied  with  it,  and  suffered  as  much  as, 
and  even  more  than,  the  freedmen  in  this  country.  The  exceeding 
severity  of  the  climate  in  Russia  makes  destitution  a  greater  burden. 
The  nobles,  also,  felt  the  change  severely.  Many  were  improvident ; 
others  who  might  have  avoided  serious  embarrassment  were  unable  to 
accommodate  themselves  to  the  new  conditions,  or  to  overcome  the  habits 
of  thoughtless  extravagance  which  had  been  fostered  by  the  old  system. 


NIHILISM.  343 

Herein  they  resembled  many  of  the  planters  of  the  South.  The  nobles  of 
Moscow,  not  recognizing  the  fact  that  all  that  had  been  done  was  regarded 
by  Alexander  II.  as  a  "beneficent  exercise,"  but  not  as  a  renunciation, 
surrender  or  modification  of  autocracy,  demanded  of  him  an  "aristocratic 
constitution."  They  went  so  far  as  to  imply  that  they  deserved  this  as 
a  compensation  for  the  losses  which  they  had  incurred  by  emancipation. 
They  were  sternly  repelled.  Not  long  after  the  Emperor  proclaimed  that 
"autocracy  is  a  heavenly  institution,  and  that  every  attempt  at  anything 
which  might  possibly  resemble  a  constitution  was  in  future  to  be  con- 
sidered as  an  offence  against  his  Imperial  Majesty,  and  punished  accord- 
ing to  law."  This,  as  a  Nihilist  observes,  "meant  death  or  Siberia." 

Started,  however,  on  an  inclined  plane  with  a  very  steep  grade,  the 
"Reformers,"  "Liberals,"  and  "Revolutionists"  could  not  restrain 
themselves  or  be  easily  suppressed,  and  the  Emperor  reacted  to  all  the 
sternness  of  his  father  Nicholas.  Then  conspiracies  began  against  his 
life.  On  the  sixteenth  of  April,  1866,  Karakozoff  fired  at  the  Emperor 
in  the  Summer  Garden  ,  from  then  until  his  death  Alexander  II.  never 
felt  safe.  The  way  to  influence  him  was  to  detect,  reveal  or  suppress 
conspiracies.  This  made  corruption  easy  ,  but  the  position  of  suspected 
persons,  and  all  related  to  them,  became  intolerable.  The  methods  of 
police  inspection  and  investigation  were  such  as  the  citizens  of  no  free 
or  partly  free  government  can  imagine.  As  described  by  Stepniak,  and 
other  writers  of  his  school,  they  seem  incredible ;  but  on  dispassionate 
and  even  loyal  Russian  authority  I  can  affirm  that  there  is  no  exaggera- 
tion in  their  descriptions.  Suspected  persons  have  no  rights.  At 
any  hour  of  the  day  or  night  the  police  may  invade  the  domicile,  awaken 
every  person,  examine  every  nook  and  cranny,  rip  up  the  bedding,  and, 
if  anything  compromising  be  found,  take  the  whole  party  to  prison. 
Then  the  suspected  person,  old  or  young,  male  or  female,  is  thrown 
into  a  cell  and  may  be  left  indefinitely.  Life  in  the  fortresses  is  terrible  ; 
consumption,  lunacy  or  death  may  soon  attack  the  as  yet  untried  pris- 
oner, or  the  end  may  be  Siberia. 

The  only  error  that  a  reader  would  be  likely  to  absorb  from  the  pages 


344  NIHILISM. 

of  Stepniak  is  the  idea  that  all  or  most  of  the  families  of  Russia  are  in 
a  state  of  perpetual  terror,  and  that  nearly  all  have  suffered  the  loss  of 
relatives  by  death,  imprisonment  in  the  fortresses,  or  removal  to  Siberia. 
The  greater  part  of  the  population  hear  of  such  things  only  as  we  do 
—  or  rather,  they  hear  and  know  much  less  of  them  than  we  do ;  for 
news  in  Russia  is  disseminated  very  slowly,  and  often  not  at  all. 

The  books  written  of  American  slavery  made  the  impression  upon 
readers  in  Europe  that  the  atrocities  described  were  the  ordinary  con- 
dition of  slaves ;  that  the  cries  and  groans  of  the  beaten  could  be  heard 
in  every  direction,  that  permanence  in  the  family  relation  was  wholly 
unknown,  and  that  life  among  the  whites  was  unsafe  because  of  blood- 
hounds scouring  the  country  on  the  track  of  panting  fugitives.  Doubt- 
less every  atrocity  described  in  "  Uncle  Tom's  Cabin "  has  been 
paralleled,  and  certainly  the  system  that  permitted  such  things  was 
brutal ;  but  the  series  of  outrages  there  described  could  not  be  consid- 
ered as  a  true  account  of  American  slavery  in  its  best  or  average  aspects, 
but  in  its  worst. 

It  is  so  in  Russia.  Theoretically,  searchings,  seizures,  mysterious 
disappearances,  immuring  in  fortresses,  removal  to  Siberia  on  mere  sus- 
picion, may  occur  at  any  time,  and  do  frequently  take  place ;  but  at  no 
time,  in  proportion  to  the  population,  are  they  experienced  by  any  con- 
siderable number.  None  the  less  hard  are  they  to  bear  when  they  do 
come.  The  last  four  years  of  the  reign  of  Alexander  II.  were  in  this 
respect  similar  to  those  of  his  father's  reign.  But  they  proved  inade- 
quate to  save  him.  After  various  attempts  upon  his  life  he  was  assas- 
sinated on  Sunday,  March  13,  1881. 

The  London  "  Times  "  has  made  an  estimate  within  the  past  year, 
from  the  reports  published  by  the  Russian  Administration  of  Prisons, 
of  the  condition  of  the  Empire  with  respect  to  prisons  and  their  in- 
mates. From  this  it  appears  that  the  Russian  Empire  contains  eight 
hundred  and  eighty-four  penitentiary  establishments.  Their  occupants 
on  the  first  of  January,  1885,  numbered  ninety-four  thousand  five  hun- 
dred and  fifteen  of  both  sexes,  an  excess  of  nearly  eight  per  cent,  above 


NIHILISM.  345 

the  returns  of  the  preceding  twelve  months.  Of  these  persons  the 
ordinary  houses  of  detention  contained  sixty-eight  thousand,  the  convict 
prisons  six  thousand  five  hundred,  the  reformatories  eight  thousand, 
and  the  prisons  in  Poland  eight  thousand.  The  proportion  of  women 
was  less  than  ten. per  cent,  of  the  whole,  but  in  the  kingdom  of  Poland 
the  women  amounted  to  sixteen  per  cent,  of  the  incarcerated  (probably 
owing  to  their  participation  in  political  agitation.)  Nearly  three  quarters 
of  a  million  arrests  take  place  in  the  year. 


CHAPTER   XLI. 
NIHILISM  (continued}. 

THE  first  question  is,  From  what  classes  do  the  Nihilists  arise? 
In  every  country  there  are  many  theorists  upon  the  themes  of 
society  and  government,  whose  ideas  are  impracticable,  and  who  meet 
with  no  success  as  public  propagandists.  The  ruling,  prosperous,  prop- 
erty-holding classes  —  all  who  cherish  any  hope  of  success  in  ordinary 
conditions  —  either  turn  a  deaf  ear  or  listen  with  indifference  to  their 
elaborate  expositions,  or  draw  back  in  affright  from  their  radical 
schemes.  Many  of  these  theorists,  lacking  physical  bravery,  or  being 
more  cautious  than  their  opinions  imply,  never  perform  any  overt  act  or 
seek  the  opportunity  of  confederacy  for  such  purposes.  But  a  fraction 
are  ever  ripe  and  ready  for  revolution.  Russia  has  its  full  share  of 
these  persons,  and  a  larger  number  ready  for  desperate  deeds  than  most 
other  European  nations. 

Besides  these  are  those  whose  vagaries  lie  in  the  border-land  between 
the  realm  of  reason  and  the  anarchy  of  insanity.  Of  these  many  have 
a  genius  for  conspiracy,  and  are  without  fear.  But  such  persons  could 
accomplish  nothing  except  as  individual  criminals ;  and  Nihilism  as  an 
organization  could  not  exist,  nor  become  such  a  terrible  and  vital  prob- 
lem, if  such  only  were  its  materials. 

Among  the  nobility  are  many  who  cannot  hope  anything  from  the 
perpetuation  of  the  existing  regime.  Several  differences  exist  between 
the  condition  of  the  Russian  nobles  and  such  ideas  of  nobility  as  West- 
ern nations  possess,  and  particularly  such  as  prevail  in  the  United 
States,  derived  chiefly  from  the  state  of  the  nobles  in  England.  The 
law  of  primogeniture  does  not  obtain  in  Russia.  There,  every  son  of  a 
prince  is  a  prince,  every  daughter  of  a  princess,  a  princess.  Property, 

346 


NIHILISM.  347 

also,  is  divided  among  the  children.  Before  the  emancipation  of  the 
serfs,  many  of  the  nobles  were  very  improvident,  and  though  holding 
vast  estates  and  many  serfs,  had  little  ready  money,  and  were  heavily  in 
debt.  The  emancipation  greatly  impoverished  them. 

From  the  multiplication  of  titled  persons,  the  subdivision  of  property, 
improvident  habits  and  pressing  debts,  many  of  the  nobles  are  in  a 
wretched  condition.  I  found  nobles  engaged  in  the  most  menial  occu- 
pations, proud,  but  poor,  bitter  and  desperate.  Nor  is  there  anything 
that  those  of  great  intellectual  ability  can  do,  in  proportion  to  the  num- 
ber who  are  without  income  commensurate  with  their  necessities,  much 
less  with  their  aspirations  and  rank.  From  this  class  many  discon- 
tented spirits  arise  ;  hoping  nothing  from  what  is,  they  cherish  vague 
and  boundless  hopes  from  what  is  not. 

The  army  also  furnishes  recruits  to  Nihilism.  Its  vastness,  poor  pay, 
idleness  and  extreme  severity  of  discipline,  contribute  to  this  result. 
Also,  notwithstanding  the  military  rigor,  the  facility  for  propagating- 
treasonable  sentiments  is  great.  Degradation  for  offences  against 
etiquette  and  very  severe  punishment  for  words  spoken  in  haste 
are  exciting  causes.  While  I  was  in  St.  Petersburg,  an  officer  of  the 
Emperor's  Staff,  a  prince  of  the  highest  rank,  appeared  in  a  uniform> 
contrary  to  regulations.  When  rebuked  by  his  superior,  he  answered 
that  "  he  was  tired  of  these  eternal  parades,"  or  in  words  of  similar  im- 
port. In  twenty-four  hours,  by  the  express  order  of  the  Emperor,  he 
was  degraded  almost  to  the  lowest  possible  military  rank.  Thus  soil 
is  being  prepared  constantly  for  the  reception  and  germination  of  the 
seeds  of  Nihilism. 

The  students  in  the  various  universities  furnish  many  of  the  most 
enthusiastic,  persistent  and  self-risking  workers  in  "  the  party."  Z.  Ra- 
gozin,  in  1881,  commenting  on  the  confession  of  Goldenberg,  wrote: 
"  Here  is  a  circle  of  young  people,  with  nice,  homelike  names,  gathered 
round  a  tea-table  with  its  hissing  samovar  —  a  scene  which  every  Rus- 
sian woman  has  presided  over  a  hundred  times.  The  young  men  are 
mostly  students  of  Kieff  or  Kharkoff;  the  girls  belong  to  the  same 


348  NIHILISM. 

class  of  unquiet  spirits.  They  talk  much  and  loudly ;  their  animated 
gestures  and  excited  faces  show  that  they  are  discussing  one  of  those 
burning  questions  du  jour,  which  in  a  certain  circle  turn  every  social 
gathering  into  a  pandemonium  on  a  small  scale,  where,  through  dense 
clouds  of  cheap  cigarette  smoke,  eyes  flash,  arms  are  flourished,  voices 
ring,  sharply  isolated  or  blended  into  a  general  din  ;  where  there  is 
everybody  to  speak  and  no  one  to  listen.  Connu  !  We  have  all  assisted 
in  some  of  these  unparliamentary  debates  where  the  newly-brewed 
thought  revels  in  ungovernable  fermentation.  But  hark !  The  theme 
is  somewhat  startling ;  it  is  a  question  of  life  and  death  which  is  being 
canvassed.  Judgment  is  being  passed  on  the  Governor,  Prince  Krapot- 
kin,  whose  brutal  ill-treatment  of  the  students  —  both  at  their  last  mass 
meeting,  when  a  troop  of  Cossacks  rode  into  the  midst  of  them  plying 
their  nagaikas  (horse-whips)  right  and  left,  and  later  in  the  prison  to 
which  many  were  summarily  consigned,  calls  for  retaliation." 

A  looker-on  might  have  supposed  that  nothing  would  come  of  this, 
which  occurred  toward  the  close  of  December ;  but  on  the  twenty-first 
(ninth)  of  February,  pursuant  to  the  decree  of  this  "tea-party,"  the 
Prince  was  assassinated.  From  then  till  now  many  of  the  students  in 
all  parts  of  Russia  have  undoubtedly  been  in  a  state  of  ferment,  and 
many  in  full  sympathy  with  Nihilism,  rejoicing  in  the  success  of  its 
movements,  though  ignorant  of  its  plans  or  agents,  while  some  in  every 
large  school  have  been  intimate  with  the  master  spirits.  Intelligence 
very  lately  received  by  me  states  that  the  repressive  measures  more 
recently  taken  instead  of  destroying  the  spirit  of  Nihilism  among  the 
students,  have  intensified  it,  at  the  same  time  leading  to  greater  cau- 
tion and  secrecy. 

The  Jews  furnish  many  sympathizers  with  the  movement.  Mauritz 
Kaufman,  speaking  of  this  in  the  "Contemporary  Review"  December, 
1880,  says:  "The  Jews,  a  naturally  cautious  body,  irritated  by  petty 
oppression,  avenge  themselves  on  society  in  becoming  colporteurs  of 
incendiary  pamphlets,  as  pedlers  in  the  country,  or  take  a  more  promi- 
nent position — like  Goldenberg,  condemmed  in  the  last  trial,  and  others 


ALEXANDER    II. 


NIHILISM.  351 

tried  at  Odessa  some  time  ago,  according  to  their  station  and  educa- 
tional advantages."  This  tells  the  whole  story. 

Notwithstanding  the  promise  made  by  the  present  Emperor  at  the 
time  of  his  coronation,  the  laws  are  very  oppressive  upon  all  dissenters. 
Even  the  Ukase  of  toleration  contains  evidence  of  the  oppression  under 
which  they  exercise  their  religion.  They  cannot  print  their  rules  of 
discipline,  articles  of  faith  or  forms  of  ceremony.  They  are  not  per- 
mitted to  erect  monasteries,  nor  to  make  their  houses  of  worship  to 
resemble  a  church,  either  in  form  or  appearance.  They  are  not  allowed 
to  have  processions,  and  this  is  a  principal  part  of  the  religious  life  of 
the  Russian  people.  They  are  not  permitted  to  re-open  or  build  new 
chapels  except  under  the  special  supervision  of  the  police  as  to  location, 
nor  have  bells  without  formal  permission.  From  all  this  arises  a  sympa- 
thy with  Nihilism,  the  philosophy  and  manifestation  of  which  are  set 
forth  by  a  German  resident  of  Russia  writing  to  an  English  periodical 
a  few  years  since,  n  these  words  :  "  Religious  dissenters,  exasperated  by 
the  intolerant  persecutions  or  extortions  of  the  State  Church,  give 
an  unpronounced  and  unmistakable  countenance  to  the  movement." 

The  question  is  often  asked :  "  How  do  the  peasantry  regard  Nihi- 
lism?" "Do  they  know  or  care  anything  about  it  ? "  The  great  major- 
ity of  the  people  are  peasants.  Alexander  II.  emancipated  twenty-three 
million  of  serfs.  Seventy-seven  per  cent,  of  the  whole  population 
follow  agriculture.  As  a  whole  they  are  the  most  miserable,  hard- 
working, hopeless  class  of  people  I  have  ever  seen.  The  portion  of  land 
given  to  the  peasants  is  so  small  that  in  that  climate,  with  the  knowl- 
edge and  means  of  agriculture  that  they  have,  they  can  hardly  raise 
enough  to  live  on,  much  less  to  pay  their  taxes.  The  taxes  are  enor- 
mous, amounting  to  as  much  as  the  rent  of  the  farm,  and  often  to  more 
than  that.  The  peasants  are  compelled  by  law  to  remain  on  the  land. 
In  many  cases,  by  permission  of  the  Mir  (the  town  meeting),  they  gp 
away  from  their  villages  and  try  to  earn  money  for  the  taxes  ;  but  as  has 
been  stated  by  every  writer  on  the  subject,  "auxiliary  sources  of  income 
are  neither  sure  nor  adequate."  To  prevent  falling  behind  with  the 


352  NIHILISM. 

taxes  the  peasants  starve  themselves ;  for,  if  they  fall  behind,  they  are 
subject  to  distraint,  and  their  personal  property  sold.  By  the  operation 
of  the  village  communal  system  the  land  is  distributed,  or  rather  the 
peasants  are  distributed  upon  the  land,  and  the  taxes  of  the  district 
paid  in  bulk.  Thus  the  fortunate  and  industrious  have  to  bear  the  bur- 
dens of  the  incompetent  and  improvident.  The  special  rates  for  the 
support  of  the  priests  are  very  great,  and  a  number  of  holidays  greater 
than  in  any  other  country  in  the  world.  Brandy  "is  deemed  a  necessity 
by  the  peasants,"  and  both  its  cost  and  its  effects  add  greatly  to  their 
burdens. 

In  spite  of  all  this  they  venerate  the  Tsar  ;  they  are  uneducated  and 
hopeless  ;  hence,  they  do  not  combine  and  are  not  extravagantly  described 
in  a  passage  written  by  a  Nihilist :  "  There  —  all  around,  as  Negrassoff, 
the  great  poet  of  the  woes  and  vices  of  modern  Russia,  sings,  '  There 
in  the  depth  of  Russia  eternal  stillness  reigns.'  '  Eternal  stillness  '  over 
the  fields  on  which,  bending  over  his  plow,  the  peasant  toils  from  dawn 
to  nightfall ;  '  eternal  stillness  '  in  those  dark,  dreary,  dilapidated  vil- 
lages, with  their  black,  smoky  huts,  looking  more  like  kennels  than 
human  abodes  ;  '  eternal  stillness '  on  the  soul  of  that  great  heroic  nation 
which,  with  its  hands'  unrequited  toil,  with  its  heart's  blood,  has  made 
Russia  what  it  now  is,  reaping  for  its  reward  but  misery,  ignorance,  in- 
justice of  every  kind." 

I  went  through  several  of  these  villages  and  saw  hundreds  of  these 
peasants,  looking  less  clean,  less  fed,  less  happy  than  these  of  the  most 
depressed  parts  of  Ireland,  or  than  the  negro  slaves  in  the  South,  before 
the  war,  in  the  least  prosperous  or  civilized  districts.  In  these  circum- 
stances many  of  the  peasants  are  profoundly  discontented  ;  yet  only 
those  who  have  left  the  villages  and  spent  some  time  in  the  larger  towns 
and  cities,  have  been  infected  with  Nihilism,  except  where  emissaries, 
male  or  female,  have  gone  among  them  circulating  tracts,  or  have  in- 
formed them  verbally  of  what  is  brewing.  The  riots  that  occasionally 
happen  cannot  justly  be  connected  with  Nihilism.  Their  predisposing 
causes  are  misery  and  discontent ;  their  exciting  cause  some  act  of 


NIHILISM.  353 

local  oppression.  Since  I  began  this  chapter  Stepniak  has  said  :  "  The 
peasants  are  the  great  stumbling-block.  What  can  you  make  of  people 
who  think  that  the  greatest  issue  in  religion  is  whether  the  sign  of  the 
cross  should  be  made  with  two  fingers  or  three?" 

A  comparison  of  two  trials,  that  of  November  6  (October  25),  1880,  and 
one  which  occurred  while  I  was  in  Russia,  may  reflect  some  light  on  the 
sort  of  persons  who  do  the  deadly  work  of  Nihilism.  In  the  former 
trial  there  were  three  women  and  thirteen  men  —  "  girls  of  twenty-one, 
twenty-two  and  twenty-three  years  of  age."  All  except  one  were  under 
thirty  years  of  age,  and  only  half  of  them  more  than  twenty-five.  One 
of  the  men  was  a  Polish  Catholic ;  two  were  Jews  ;  two  had  never  had 
any  education ;  seven  were  dismissed  students  from  various  institutions. 
The  oldest  was  a  landholder  and  merchant,  whose  connection  with  the 
other  prisoners  was  that  of  financial  agent  for  a  personal  friend,  Dimitri 
Lizigoub,  who  had  been  executed  in  August  of  the  preceding  year 
(1879).  A  person  having  detailed  knowledge  of  many  trials  told  me 

s 

these  fairly  represented  the  active  conspirators  at  and  before  that  time. 
But  the  fourteen  defendants  in  the  great  trial  early  in  the  autumn  of  1884, 
were  :  Lieutenant-Colonel  Michael  Ashenbrenner,  of  the  Fifty-Ninth 
Lubin  Regiment  ;  Nicholas  Pohitonoff,  Second  Captain  of  the  Ninth 
Artillery  Brigade ;  Nicholas  Rogatcheff,  Lieutenant  of  the  Twenty. 
Eighth  Artillery  Brigade  ;  Alexander  Tihanovitch,  Sub-Lieutenant  of  the 
One  Hundred  and  Thirty-First  Tiraspol  Regiment ;  Ensign  Ivan  You- 
vatcheff,  of  the  Navy ;  Lieutenant  Baron  Alexander  Stromberg,  of  the 
Navy ;  Vera  Figner,  a  noblewoman  ;  Linbov  Tchemodanoff,  a  priest's 
daughter  ;  Lindmilla  Volkenstein, a  physician's  wife;  Apollo  Nemolovsky, 
a  priest's  son  ;  Athansy  Spandony-Basmandjy,  a  merchant's  son  ;  Vladi- 
mir Tchnikoff,  a  nobleman  ;  and  Vasily  Ivanoff,  a  merchant's  son.  All 
these  were  convicted.  Eight  were  sentenced  to  death,  including  Vera 
Figner,  the  "beautiful  Nihilist,"  who  had  been  suspected  and  tracked 
since  1875,  and  the  physician's  wife.  The  Tsar  "granted  life  to  six  of 
these  ;  but  Baron  Stromberg  and  Lieutenant  Rogatcheff  were  hanged. 
All  the  rest  were  sent  to  Siberia  for  from  four  years  to  the  end  of  life." 


354  NIHILISM. 

The  character  and  position  of  these  Nihilists  occasioned  great  consterna- 
tion. Katkoff,  of  the  Moscow  Vedomosti,  said  :  "  Formerly  our  govern- 
ment had  to  deal  with  students  and  mechanics,  and  now  among  the 
conspirators  there  are  officers  of  the  army  and  navy.  A  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  cannot  be  put  on  the  same  footing  with  a  dismissed  student. 
God  forbid  that  further  researches  should  disclose  conspirators  still 
higher  in  rank." 

To  these  must  be  added  a  number  varying  in  different  years,  of  those 
who  from  sympathy  of  their  friends  hanged,  imprisoned,  or  exiled,  swear 
eternal  hatred  to  the  Government  and  seek  to  become  Nihilists.  This 
has  much  to  do  with  the  desperate  abandon  of  certain  female  Nihilists  of 
the  middle  class  (though  some  writers  assert  that  there  is  no  middle  class 
in  Russia  ;  but  for  convenience  I  must  use  the  term)  and  in  higher  circles. 
Personal  affection  unites  others  to  the  enterprises  of  their  male  friends. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 
NIHILISM  (continued). 

\  QUESTION  of  great  interest  is,  What  is  the  probable  number 
/~\_  of  Nihilists  in  Russia  ?  My  only  means  of  forming  an  estimate 
is  a  comparison  of  the  opinions  of  foreign  residents,  diplomatic  officers, 
intelligent  Russians,  who  are  not  Nihilists,  of  such  Nihilists  as  I  met, 
and  the  study  of  the  writings  of  such  representatives  of  the  cause  as 
have  appealed  to  the  high  court  of  public  opinion,  and  of  the  number 
and  character  of  the  trials,  considered  in  connection  with  Nihilist 
methods  of  work  and  the  means  used  by  the  Government  to  detect 
them. 

It  is  obvious  from  the  preceding,  that  in  Russia  nine  tenths  of  the 
Russian  people  form  an  inert  mass,  occupied  with  a  constant  and  terri- 
ble struggle  for  bread,  and  the  means  of  paying  taxes.  If  general  knowl- 
edge be  an  acquaintance  with  history  and  current  facts  outside  of  the 
sphere  of  a  person's  daily  life,  they  are  densely  ignorant.  Nor  are  there 
any  means  of  speedily  spreading  information.  Only  about  one  tenth  of 
the  whole  population  are  in  towns  and  cities.  It  is,  with  inconsiderable 
exceptions,  in  this  tenth  that  Nihilism  exists.  But  in  that  class  are  the 
priests  and  their  families,  amounting  to  a  million  or  more ;  the  army  and 
the  whole  civil  force  of  the  Empire ;  the  prosperous,  who  have  nothing 
to  gain,  and  everything  to  lose  from  a  revolution  ;  the  hopeful,  whose 
plans  seem  about  to  succeed,  and  an  immense  number,  who,  whether 
prosperous  or  not,  are  devout,  after  the  manner  of  the  Orthodox  Greek 
Church,  and  would  count  it  a  crime  against  God  to  attempt  anything 
against  the  authority  of  the  Tsar,  and  could  never  entertain  the  thought 
of  an  assault  upon  his  person.  In  this  tenth,  also,  is  the  old  Slavonic 
Party,  whose  members  are  very  numerous.  They  support  the  autocracy 

355 


356  NIHILISM. 

from  principle  and  have  been  tersely  and  correctly  characterized  as  "  the 
Russian  equivalents  of  the  English  Tories  and  the  French  Bourbons. 
They  are  essentially  the  standstill  party."  Their  belief  is  that  the  ideas 
that  prevail  in  Great  Britain,  France  and  Germany  can  never  be  assimila- 
ted in  Russia.  They  hold  that  there  is  "  no  middle  class  in  the  country." 
They  believe  further,  that  God  and  the  Tsar  should  be  united  in  the 
devotion  of  the  peasant,  and  that  to  the  masses  of  the  people  the  will  of 
the  Tsar  should  be  the  voice  of  God.  These  facts  show  that  it  is 
improbable  that  any  considerable  number  of  persons  are  actively  and 
permanently  engaged  in  Nihilist  plots  and  their  execution.  That  many 
sympathize  with  their  hatred  of  the  existing  regime,  and  that  a  large 
number  look  without  horror  upon  some  of  the  acts  of  the  Terrorists,  is 
not  only  probable,  but  certain. 

The  attempt  on  the  part  of  Nihilist,  and  some  other  writers,  to  demon- 
strate the  existence  of  a  great  number  of  Nihilists  is  based  on  the  as- 
sumption that  all  whose  aims  are  to  secure  "part  in  the  Government 
for  the  people,"  to  make  the  press  free,  to  provide  for  general  education, 
and  to  disestablish,  or  at  least  to  modify  greatly  and  to  reconstruct  the 
Church  and  its  relations  to  the  Government  —  in  a  word,  all  who  are 
opposed  to  absolutism  —  are  to  be  classed  as  Nihilists.  Thus  a  writer, 
who  signs  himself  a  Russian  Nihilist,  and  who,  I  am  informed  on  high 
authority,  is  what  he  claims,  says:  "Those  are  not  rightly  informed  who 
think  that  the  revolutionary  movement  now  going  on  in  Russia  is  the 
work  of  one  party,  or  of  a  secret  society  of  any  kind.  It  is  the  work  of 
all  intelligent  Russian  citizens,  to  whatever  class  of  society  they  may 
belong,  who  are  tired  of  the  yoke  Russia  has  borne  for  so  many  centu- 
ries, all  who  consider  political  liberty  and  the  downfall  of  autocracy  the 
necessary  condition  of  all  further  progress  of  the  Russian  people." 
Some  class  all  these  with  Nihilists.  In  many  cases  it  would  be  as  just 
to  class  the  Liberal  party  in  England  with  Communists  or  Socialists. 

The  Nihilists,  as  their  name  has  become  known  to  the  civilized  world, 
are  revolutionists  who  would  overthrow  the  existing  state  by  violence. 
They  are  divided  and  subdivided  into  sects,  but  generally  into  two  par- 


NIHILISM.  357 

ties  —  those  who  would  promote  open  revolt,  and  those  who  will  resort 
to  the  assassination  of  obstructive  officers  and  of  the  Emperor  himself. 
Karl  Blind  declares  that,  in  addition  to  these,  "  there  are  Socialists  who 
would  prefer  proceeding  in  a  more  peaceful  way.  There  are  Democrats 
desiring  the  convocation  of  a  National  Assembly  on  the  principle  of 
universal  suffrage.  There  are  constitutional  monarchists,  who  would  be 
glad  to  see  any  system  of  parliamentary  government  introduced."  To 
class  all  these  as  Nihilists  seems  absurd. 

But  even  if  all  the  Revolutionists  are  to  be  called  Nihilists,  the  number 
is  not  very  large.  "  It  is  a  group  rather  than  a  party."  If  the  Terrorists 
—  the  plotters  and  the  would-be  or  actual  assassins  —  be  meant,  it  is  a 
small  number,  at  no  time  amounting  to  more  than  a  few  hundreds. 
The  best  attainable  evidence  from  the  most  diverse  sources  appears  to 
show  that  in  the  separate,  abortive  or  successful  attempts  at  assassination, 
a  very  few  persons  knew  what  was  to  be  done,  or  where,  when  or  how  it 
was  to  be  done.  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  in  some  of  the  most 
critical  cases  different  bands  were  seeking  the  same  object,  unknown  to 
each  other,  not  only  as  conspirators,  but  even  as  persons,  and  that  the 
denotement  in  its  circumstances  and  time  surprised  many  Nihilists  as 
well  as  its  victim  and  the  public.  While  the  methods  of  work  pursued 
make  this  probable,  the  revelations  of  the  police  and  the  confession  of 
Goldenberg  make  it  certain.  This  Goldenberg  was  a  Jew,  twenty-four 
years  old,  and  the  murderer  of  Prince  Krapotkin.  While  in  the  fortress 
with  sixteen  others  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the  policy  of  Terror- 
ism was  wrong,  and  destined  only  to  rivet  the  chains  which  it  would  break. 
He  reached  also  the  extraordinary  resolution  that,  to  put  an  end  to  it,  he 
would  make  a  full  confession.  After  doing  so  he  killed  himself.  His 
motive,  expressed  in  his  own  words,  of  which  the  following  is  a  transla- 
tion given  by  Ragozin,  is  stated  thus  :  "  I  stand  aghast  at  the  certainty 
that  persecution  must  at  last  overcome,  suppress  for  a  long  time,  the 
general  active  stir  so  healthful  in  itself  in  favor  of  political  reform,  and 
that  we  shall  bitterly  regret  having  manifested  our  activity  in  so  harsh 
a  form  as  to  drag  to  perdition  numbers  of  unheeded  victims.  .  .  .  I 


358  NIHILISM. 

have  nerved  myself  to  a  most  dire  and  terrible  act.  I  have  resolved  to 
employ  a  remedy  which  makes  my  veins  throb  painfully,  and  my  eyes 
overflow  with  burning  tears.  ...  I  have  resolved  to  lay  open  the 
entire  organization,  all  that  is  known  to  me,  as  a  preventive  against  the 
dreadful  future  which  awaits  us,  against  a  whole  series  of  executions  and 
other  repressive  measures." 

In  this  confession  he  states  explicitly  that  of  the  twenty  persons  who 
assisted  him  he  knew  several  "only  under  their  assumed  names."  He 
shows  that  their  main  reliance  was  upon  two  means  :  the  lavish  use  of 
false  papers,  "  most  of  the  agents  being  provided  with  several  names  and 
passports  to  match,"  and  "keeping  every  agent  as  much  as  possible  in 
the  dark  concerning  everything  but  the  particular  job  imposed  upon  him, 
and,  as  far  as  feasible,  in  ignorance  even  of  his  fellow  conspirators,"  etc. 
That  there  was  an  executive  committee,  and  above  it  a  directory,  also  ap- 
pears ;  but  the  control  of  things  by  the  technically  higher  of  the  two  was 
general,  rather  than  particular.  All  the  accounts  of  the  preparations  for 
the  murder  of  Prince  Krapotkin,  and  for  the  explosion  of  the  Winter 
Palace  in  February,  1880,  confirm  the  opinion  here  set  forth,  that  the 
number  cognizant  of  the  plans  hardly  reached  hundreds,  and  that  those 
sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  purpose  to  be  in  a  true  and  proper  sense 
accessory  before  the  fact,  did  not  reach  many  thousands  in  the  whole 
Empire. 

The  methods  of  working  have  been  the  explosion  of  mines  under  rail- 
roads over  which  persons  whose  death  was  decreed  were  supposed  to  be 
passing  ;  direct  assassination,  as  Goldenberg  killed  Prince  Krapotkin,  by 
firing  into  his  carriage  ;  the  hurling  of  bombs,  as  Tsar  Alexander  II.  was 
killed  ;  and  undermining  palaces,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Winter  Palace  be- 
fore referred  to,  where,  just  as  the  Emperor  was  about  to  receive  the 
guest  of  the  evening,  Prince  Alexander  of  Hesse,  an  explosion  took 
place,  killing  eleven  and  wounding  fifty-six  persons.  Nor  have  the 
Nihilists  disdained  the  use  of  poison.  To  accomplish  their  ends,  houses 
have  been  bought  or  hired  near  the  places  where  mines  were  to  be  laid  ; 
or  by  deception  or  other  means  employment  has  been  obtained,  or  per- 


NIHILISM.  361 

sons  already  employed  in  the  public  service  have  been  corrupted.  For, 
where  assassination  has  been  determined  upon,  truth,  honor,  justice  and 
friendship  have  no  longer  any  influence.  The  highest  conception  of  the 
political  assassin  is  Brutus  ;  and  he  stopped  at  nothing. 

Most  of  the  operations  of  the  Nihilists  have  been  greatly  embarrassed 
by  the  want  of  money.  This  is  not  of  itself  a  proof  of  the  smallness 
of  their  numbers,  but  rather  an  illustration  and  a  consequence  of  the 
social  position  or  circumstances  of  the  active  workers,  and  of  the  fact 
that  their  work  must  be  kept  secret.  Men  will  not,  in  any  country, 
very  often  part  with  their  money,  without  knowing  what  is  to  be  done 
with  it  ;  nor  is  the  transfer  of  large  sums  easy  without  detection.  Yet 
they  have  had  a  few  —  probably  a  very  few  —  men  of  considerable 
means  among  them.  So  far  as  it  appears,  these  men  have  inherited 
their  possessions  and,  becoming  infatuated  with  Nihilism,  have  furnished 
the  workers  until  they  were  impoverished,  or,  like  Dimitri  Lizogoub, 
executed.  It  is  claimed,  and  with  much  apparent  reason,  that  the  rest 
of  the  contributions  were  small,  and  that  the  great  bulk  of  the  expended 
funds,  up  to  the  time  of  his  execution,  were  derived  from  his  private 
fortune.  This  fortune  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  eighty-seven  thou- 
sand roubles.  Though  he  spent  but  five  hundred  roubles  per  year  for 
his  personal  support,  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  had  distributed  to 
various  Nihilist  agents  one  hundred  and  fifty-seven  thousand  roubles, 
and  barely  thirty  thousand  remaining  roubles  could  be  found. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  the  terror  excited  by  the  acts  of  the  Nihilists 
implies  a  great  number  of  them.  That  terror  is  so  great  as  to  make 
the  life  of  the  Tsar,  of  his  household,  and  of  all  officials  who  are  made 
obnoxious  by  their  functions,  and  of  all  who  stand  in  the  way  of  "  re- 
form," or  feel  that  they  may  be  suspected  of  retarding  the  progress 
of  "  the  cause,"  almost  insupportable.  My  Russian  confidante  gave  a 
graphic  account,  made  more  dramatic  by  his  slightly  intoxicated  state, 
of  the  trepidation  into  which  the  Emperor  and  his  family  were  fre- 
quently thrown  by  the  appearance  of  threatening  missives  in  unlooked- 
for  places,  and  the  detection  of  servants  in  situations  or  in  company 
which  compromised  them  or  gave  ground  for  suspicion. 


362  NIHILISM. 

He  said  that,  during  the  first  eighteen  months  after  the  coronation, 
the  servants  nearest  to  the  Emperor  and  his  family,  with  certain  ex- 
ceptions, were  changed  as  often  as  twice  a  month,  and  that  it  was  a  say- 
ing of  the  Empress,  "  I  know  that  they  do  not  wish  to  harm  me  ;  it  is 
only  my  poor  husband  "  :  but  that  she  would  add,  "  his  enemies  would 
destroy  us  all  to  kill  him."  At  the  first  ball  which  the  present  Em- 
peror attended  away  from  his  palace  after  his  coronation,  officers  were 
stationed  in  every  room.  Even  where  a  governess  usually  slept  there 
was  a  guard,  and  he  "  considerately  retired  into  a  closet  while  she  made 
her  toilet."  At  the  same  time  six  or  eight  soldiers  were  stationed  on 
the  roof,  looking  out  for  bombs. 

I  left  Moscow  for  Warsaw  just  five  days  before  the  Emperor  visited 
the  latter  city  en  route  to  the  famous  interview  with  the  emperors  of 
Germany  and  Austria.  The  precautions  taken  to  keep  secret  the  exact 
time  of  the  Emperor's  passing  over  the  road,  the  number  of  men  em- 
ployed to  patrol  and  guard  the  track  and  stations,  the  general  atmos- 
phere along  the  route,  defy  description.  The  dispatches  to  the  papers 
of  London  and  Paris,  and  to  the  United  States,  gave  the  facts,  but  could 
not  transmit  the  impression  which  they  made  upon  spectators.  The 
lowest  estimate  of  the  number  of  men  specially  detailed  to  make  it 
impossible  that  the  Emperor  should  be  injured  while  on  the  journey  to 
Warsaw,  was  twenty-four  thousand.  I  have  no  means  of  verifying  this. 
At  various  points  wholesale  arrests  were  made  of  suspected  persons. 
In  Warsaw  scores,  if  not  hundreds,  were  thrown  into  the  citadel  or  hur- 
ried away.  A  little  while  before  the  Emperor  arrived  I  left  for  Vienna, 
but  was  prepared,  by  what  I  had  seen,  for  the  accounts  of  the  success 
of  his  visit,  the  order,  the  enthusiasm  and  heartiness  of  the  demonstra- 
tion, and  for  his  riding  about,  on  a  special  occasion,  unattended.  The 
preparation,  the  stringent  orders,  the  omnipresent  surveillance  were  so 
complete  that  the  Tsar  was  as  safe  as  Daniel  in  the  den  of  lions  - 
though  for  another  reason.  The  lions  in  this  case  were  bound  and 
chloroformed  before  the  possible  victim  entered. 

The  measures  on  which  the  Government  relies  for  its  own  mainte- 


NIHILISM.  363 

nance  and  the  protection  of  the  Tsar,  are  such  as  do  not  exist  in  any  other 
nation  in  Europe,  and  never  have  existed  in  any  modern  despotism.  To 
Asiatic  severity  and  cunning  is  added  much  of  the  experience  and  wis- 
dom of  European  police  methods.  The  doctrine  that  "  a  man's  house  is 
his  castle,"  the  proud  boast  of  Englishmen  and  of  those  who  model  their 
institutions  after  those  of  Great  Britain,  is  unknown  in  Russia  At  any 
hour,  by  day  or  night,  any  house  may  be  entered  and  searched,  and  any 
or  all  of  its  inmates  dragged  to  prison.  Not  even  a  child  of  ten  years  of 
age  can  go  from  the  country  to  St.  Petersburg  or  Moscow  to  school  with- 
out a  passport  ;  nor  can  a  servant  change  his  situation  or  go  from  home 
without  a  similar  document.  Every  house  in  the  cities  has  a  porter 
whose  duties,  in  addition  to  those  usually  performed  by  porters  in  Ger- 
many or  Austria,  are  to  serve  as  watchman  at  night,  to  sleep  in  the 
street  at  the  entrance  winter  and  summer,  to  report  to  the  police  any 
new  arrival  or  departure,  and  to  see  that  all  police  regulations,  great  or 
small,  are  complied  with.  Whatever  the  station  of  a  citizen,  if  a  friend 
of  equal  rank  visit  him  to  remain  beyond  a  very  limited  time  —  say  a 
few  hours  —  his  name  must  be  given  to  the  police.  No  artisan  or  com- 
mon laborer,  in  all  Russia,  can  go  away  from  the  town  where  he  lives  with- 
out a  legal  permit,  which  he  must  be  ready  to  exhibit  at  all  times.  In  the 
days  of  slavery,  in  some  of  the  Southern  States,  slaves  found  away  from 
home  without  a  permit  from  their  masters  were  liable  to  arrest.  This 
is  practically  the  condition  of  all  citizens  in  Russia.  Of  course,  there, 
as  elsewhere,  most  of  the  people  are  so  well-known  that  in  many  cases 
little  inconvenience  is  experienced. 

When  I  proposed  to  enter  Russia,  my  passport  was  first  viseed  by 
the  Russian  Consul  in  Stockholm.  On  purchasing  my  tickets  for  St. 
Petersburg  by  steamship,  I  was  required  to  surrender  my  passport  to 
the  captain,  and  saw  it  no  more  till  the  vessel  reached  Abo,  in  Finland, 
the  first  opportunity  to  disembark.  There,  before  any  one  was  allowed 
to  leave  the  ship,  three  Russian  officers  came  on  board.  The  passen- 
gers were  summoned  before  them,  the  captain  appeared  with  the  pass- 
ports, each  man's  name  was  called,  he  stepped  forward,  was  identified, 


364  NIHILISM. 

and,  if  the  officials  saw  fit,  was  examined.  If  his  answer  was  satisfac- 
tory, his  passport  was  handed  to  him  and  he  could  go  where  he  chose. 
But  on  arriving  at  any  hotel  in  Russia  the  passport  was  at  once  de- 
manded, transmitted  to  the  police,  and  returned,  usually  within  twenty- 
four  hours.  No  change  of  domicile  in  all  Russia  is  possible  without  this 
formality.  On  my  departure  from  the  Empire  the  officials  wrote  on  my 
passport  that,  so  far  as  known,  there  was  no  objection  to  my  crossing 
the  frontier.  Such  a  system  as  this  applied  to  seventy-seven  million 
of  people  has  never  been  paralleled.  It  makes  conspiracies  of  a  danger- 
ous character  so  difficult  as  to  be  impossible  without  the  use  of  passports 
and  assumed  names. 


CHAPTER   XLIII. 

NIHILISM  (concluded}. 

SECRECY  is  another  reliance  of  the  police.  Arrests  are  made  with- 
out publicity.  No  writ  of  habeas  corpus  exists.  Newspapers  are 
few  in  number,  and  under  the  most  rigid  censorship,  liable  to  be  sup- 
pressed at  any  moment,  and  all  the  capital  invested  in  them  made  worth- 
less. Arrests  may  be  made  on  suspicion,  and  men,  women  or  children 
may  be  compelled,  by  orders  issued  by  the  secret  police,  to  live  in  any 
village  in  the  most  remote  district,  or  be  sent  to  Siberia  to  remain  in- 
definitely. 

A  Nihilist,  now  residing  in  this  country,  gave  an  account  of  his  own 
arrest  in  language  which  then  seemed  to  me  very  extravagant,  but  which 
I  found  to  be  within  the  limits  of  truth.  I  will  give  the  substance  of  his 
account,  omitting,  however,  minor  details.  He  says  :  "  It  was  past  mid- 
night. The  bell  rang.  I  jumped  up  at  once.  With  trembling  hands  I 
lit  a  lamp  and  burned  several  papers  written  in  cipher  or  in  invisible 
ink.  The  bell  rang  again.  My  landlady  was  very  slow  in  getting  up, 
thus  giving  me  an  opportunity  to  burn  all  those  compromising  docu- 
ments. With  a  sudden  crash  the  door  gave  way,  and  the  gendarmes 
rushed  in.  The  captain  informed  me  that,  by  order  of  the  Government, 
he  had  come  to  arrest  me.  They  took  my  keys  and  opened  my  trunks 
and  drawers.  They  searched  every  nook  and  corner,  carefully  collecting 
every  scrap  of  written  paper.  It  took  them  three  hours  to  finish  the 
examination.  At  length  they  put  me  in  the  carriage  and  hurried  me 
to  the  Third  Section.  The  heavy  iron  door  shut  behind  me.  A  week 
passed.  No  officer  came  near  me.  At  last  I  was  brought  before  the 
chief  of  gendarmes,  who  sternly  told  me  that  I  was  guilty  of  taking  part 
in  a  revolutionary  propaganda  and  of  pronouncing  the  sentence  of  death 

365 


366  NIHILISM. 

upon  an  alleged  spy  who  was  afterwards  killed  by  some  of  my  comrades. 
'  You  will  have  to  prove  your  accusations,"  I  said.  '  That  is  what  we 
shall  do,  and  you  meanwhile  will  stay  at  the  Petrapavlosky  fortress.' ' 
There  he  remained  two  years  before  learning  the  charges  against  him. 
His  case,  with  those  of  one  hundred  and  nineteen  others,  he  declares, 
was  the  first  and  the  last  tried  by  a  jury.  Three  quarters  of  the  whole 
number,  including  himself,  were  acquitted.  "  When  he  heard  the  result, 
the  late  Tsar  exclaimed  in  rage,  'No  more  jury  trials  for  political  crimi- 
nals ' ;  and  he  kept  his.  word.  At  first  he  established  a  special  court 
composed  of  Senators  ;  afterward  came  the  Military  Courts." 

In  other  countries,  a  prisoner  acquitted  is  free.  This  young  man  at 
the  time  of  his  arrest  was  a  medical  student.  After  his  acquittal,  he 
went  to  the  medical  academy  and  asked  to  be  re-admitted  to  the  institu- 
tion. Of  the  result,  he  says:  "The  General  kindly  informed  me  in  a 
whisper  that  the  doors  of  all  the  universities  were  forever  shut  against 
me.  I  hurried  to  the  Third  Section.  '  I  have  been  acquitted,  by  the 
Court,  and  yet  I  am  under  punishment.  What  does  it  men  ? '  '  You 
shall  hear  from  me,'  returned  the  Chief  of  the  Russian  Inquisition, 
and  he  left  the  room.  At  midnight  the  bell  rang,  and  the  Captain  of 
gendarmes  came  again  to  arrest  me.  That  same  night  I  was  sent  away 
from  St.  Petersburg  in  the  company  of  two  gendarmes.  Five  days  we 
travelled.  At  last  we  reached  a  small  village  in  the  woods  of  the  Arch- 
angelsk  Province.  'Guard  him  well  if  you  don't  care  to  see  Siberia,' 
said  one  of  the  gendarmes  to  the  village  constable ;  and  they  left  me  with- 
out any  means  of  subsistence."  He  afterward  escaped  and  came  to  this 
country.  While  this  young  physician  was  in  the  fortress  it  was  possible 
by  various  stratagems  to  communicate  with  the  outside  world ;  since  then 
another  fortress,  entirely  surrounded  by  water,  has  been  generally  used 
for  such  cases.  The  convicted  are  hanged  or  sent  to  Siberia,  where 
the  remoteness  and  the  hardships  depend  on  the  gravity  of  the  offence 
and  the  estimate  held  by  the  officials  of  the  offender.  "  Suspects  "  are 
ordered  to  reside  in  particular  places,  and  hundreds  are  scattered  about 
the  Empire  in  readiness  to  be  seized  if  evidence  be  forthcoming. 


NIHILISM.  367 

From  what  has  been  said  it  is  easy  to  understand  why  the  acute 
minds  that  have  planned  the  various  acts  of  assassination  have  been 
detected  ;  and  why  the  number  of  plots  which  have  been  discovered 
before  the  time  fixed  for  their  execution  had  come,  or  which  were  made 
impossible  by  a  change  in  the  plans  of  their  intended  victims,  is  many 
times  greater  than  the  number  of  plots  which  have  been  executed. 

The  dire  necessities  of  the  situation  have  developed  an  ingenuity  in 
the  secret  police  which  has  never  been  surpassed,  if  equalled.  Their 
great  number,  the  use  of  the  arbitrary  means  of  despotism  or  martial  law  - 
phrases  that  in  Russia  are  practically  identical  —  means  that  are  in  times 
of  peace  excluded  from  constitutional  governments ;  their  unlimited  facili- 
ties for  corrupting  men  ;  the  fear  produced  by  the  disappearance  of  "sus- 
pects " ;  the  breaking  up  of  combinations  by  the  removal  of  those 
concerned  in  them  to  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  Empire,  make  it 
impossible  to  conceal  forever,  or,  generally  for  very  long,  the  schemes 
that  are  hatching.  A  Nihilist  may  say:  "Among  our  spies  were  per- 
sons who  performed  double  duty,  spying  at  one  and  the  same  time  tor  us 
and  for  the  Government.  Of  course  they  served  us  and  tricked  the 
Tsar's  officers.  But  the  most  substantial  police  service  was  rendered  us 
by  young  ladies,  daughters  of  the  highest  officials.  Certainly  the  Tsar 
never  had  such  educated,  titled,  and  skilful  spies  in  his  pay  as  worked 
for  us  without  any  remuneration."  This  is  fine  ;  yet  he  had  to  add, 
"Hardly  a  year  passed  before  a  large  number  of  my  comrades  were 
arrested,  and  I  with  them.'' 

The  Russian  character,  to  use  no  harsher  term,  is  unstable.  It  is  a 
proverb  brought  in  by  the  Irish  troubles  that  "  Where  there  is  an  assas- 
sin, there  is  an  informer."  It  is  as  true  in  Russian  circles.  In  almost 
every  Nihilist  circle  there  has  been  found  at  least  one  traitor,  if  not  from 
purpose,  from  weakness.  A  Russian  writer,  speaking  of  Goldenberg's 
confession,  says:  " Goldenberg's  rather  naively  worded  statement,  'Our 
people  generally  objected  to  subordination/  sets  forth  in  homely  fashion 
a  lesson  taught  by  the  whole  history  of  Russia  —  namely,  that  '  Our  peo- 
ple, though  able  at  any  moment  to  muster  a  superb  array  of  persona] 


368  NIHILISM. 

capacities,  intellectual  and  moral,  have  always  been,  through  lack  of 
training,  or  some  more  deep-lying  natural  basis,  singularly  unapt  for  pro- 
longed combined  action.' ' 

The  effect  of  Nihilist  conspiracies  thus  far  has  been  to  rivet  the 
chains  upon  the  people's  neck  rather  than  to  break  or  loosen  them. 
Arrests,  executions,  banishments,  transportations  to  Siberia,  and  ail 
forms  of  repressive  measures  have  been  made  necessary.  When  the 
life  of  the  Emperor  is  at  stake,  and  to  serve  him  with  zeal  and  fidelity  is 
to  expose  those  who  do  it  to  constant  peril,  they  are  compelled  to  use 
every  means  at  their  command  to  destroy  conspirators. 

In  ancient  despotisms,  whether  European,  Asiatic,  or  African,  assas- 
sinations were  not  infrequent ;  but  they  were  generally  perpetrated  by 
those  who  had  some  real  or  pretended  claim,  direct  or  indirect,  to  the 
throne,  to  whom  the  people  would  submit  with  little  show  of  resistance  ; 
or  by  those  who  had  such  influence  with  the  army  as  to  be  able  to  seize 
the  crown ;  but  in  modern  Russia  the  conditions  are  different.  These 
attempts  are  not  made  by  those  who  claim  the  throne,  nor  by  those 
whose  positions  in  the  army  are  such  as  to  enable  them  to  expel  the 
Romanoffs,  nor  by  the  people  in  such  numbers  as  to  overthrow  and 
reconstruct  the  Government ;  but  by  isolated  persons,  or  small  bands 
that  cannot  avail  themselves  of  the  results.  After  every  such  attempt, 
successful  or  unsuccessful,  the  entire  force  of  the  Empire  is  employed  to 
detect  and  punish  the  guilty,  and  every  restriction  devised  to  make  a 
new  outbreak  impossible. 

Many  of  the  outrages  of  which  the  Nihilists  complain  are  occasioned 
by  their  own  conduct.  Karl  Blind,  after  describing  "the  terrible  punish- 
ment of  transportation  to  Siberia  without  trial  or  warning,"  says  :  "  Well, 
under  Alexander  II.  —  'the  divine  figure  from  the  North'-  — the  trans- 
portations to  Siberia  have,  of  late  years,  attained  ten  times  the  number 
of  what  they  annually  were,  on  an  average,  under  the  iron  rule  of  the 
tyrant  Nicholas."  This  may  be ;  but  Alexander  II.  did  not  pursue  this 
course  of  severity  until  after  attempts  were  made  upon  his  life,  and  sym- 
pathy with  them  appeared  in  various  quarters.  The  Nihilists  themselves 


NIHILISM.  369 

allow  this.  One  of  them,  writing  in  the  "  North  American  Review  "  of 
February,  1879,  says:  "On  the  sixteenth  of  April,  1866,  a  crazy  young 
lunatic,  almost  a  child,  Karakazoff  by  name,  fired  a  shot  at  the  Emperor 
while  the  latter  was  stepping  into  his  carriage  after  a  walk  in  the  Sum- 
mer Garden.  This  fatal  shot  marked  a  turning-point  in  the  Tsar's 
policy  toward  his  subjects."  What  could  he  do  when  conspiracies  against 
the  Government  and  his  own  life  were  constantly  being  unearthed  ? 

The  effect  of  his  assassination  was  most  disastrous  in  two  particulars. 
It  placed  the  entire  Liberal  party,  which  had  been  gradually  gaining 
strength,  under  the  ban  of  suspicion.  It  gave  the  supporters  of  Auto- 
cracy the  means  of  repressing  all  who  differed  from  them,  by  raising  the 
cry  of  Nihilism  and  by  prejudicing  the  mind  of  the  present  Emperor. 
Thus  it  produced  the  most  extraordinary  reaction.  Just  after  the  assas- 
sination of  Alexander  II.  (namely,  July  17,  1881),  I  read  these  words 
from  the  pen  of  a  Nihilist :  "Russia  is  moving  fast.  In  1861  the  late 
Tsar  was  adored  like  a  god  by  his  people.  In  1871  I  saw  him  driving 
without  an  escort,  unaware  that  his  capital  was  swarming  with  Nihilists. 
In  1 88 1  the  Tsar,  liberator  and  reformer,  was  killed  at  noonday.  And 
the  new  Tsar,  though  in  his  manifesto  he  said  that  he  '  boldly  under- 
took the  task  of  governing,'  does  not  do  anything  but  hide  himself  in 
this  or  that  palace ! "  This  exultation  was  premature.  The  present 
state  of  Russia  is  one  of  extreme  reaction.  Not  in  the  time  of  Alexan- 
der II.,  nor  in  that  of  Nicholas,  stigmatized  by  some  as  "the  maniac  of 
Autocracy,"  was  the  censorship  of  the  press  more  arbitrary,  the  invasion 
of  private  rights  greater,  the  "  Russification  "  of  the  subject  states  and 
conquered  races  —  such  as  the  Poles  —  more  steadily  pursued,  all  states- 
men of  liberal  views  more  suspected,  all  suspected  persons  more  annoy- 
ingly  watched  and  followed,  all  convicted  of  political  offences  more 
speedily  punished.  Furthermore,  the  influence  of  Western  ideas  of 
civilization  was  never  more  vigilantly  guarded  against.  The  party  in  favor 
of  maintaining  Autocracy  was  never  so  strong  since  the  movement  for  its 
overthrow  began.  Foreign  mechanics,  engineers  and  railway  officials 
are  being  gradually  replaced  by  Russians.  In  one  Government  estab- 


370  NIHILISM. 

lishment,  where,  a  few  years  ago,  hundreds  of  skilled  workmen  and 
heads  of  departments  were  employed,  only  two  or  three  remain.  The 
manifestation  of  power  by  the  Tsar  increases  in  arbitrariness.  Those 
who  offend  Alexander  III.  are  as  summarily  degraded  as  those  who 
offended  the  capricious  and  despotic  Paul ;  and  every  person  who  has 
been  disappointed  or  reprimanded  is  held  to  be  material  from  which  a 
Nihilist  may  be  developed,  and  is  watched  accordingly.  Most  of  those 
liberal  minds  that  would  be  judiciously  seeking  to  promote  reforms  are 
compelled  to  silence  and  inactivity. 

This  reaction  is  the  direct  result  of  the  conduct  of  the  Nihilists.  For 
the  idealists  among  them  —  those  who  use  murder  only  as  a  means  to 
an  end  —  hallucinate  themselves  into  the  belief  that  "there  is  a  virtue 
which  forgets  itself  in  order  to  surpass  itself,"  and  sing  the  song  that 
"There  are  years  and  centuries  when  there  is  nothing  so  beautiful  and 
lovely  as  the  thorn  wreath;"  but  their  conspiracies  and  murders  have 
made  it  necessary  that  the  Government  of  Russia  should  be  nothing  but 
a  gigantic  police  force,  of  which  the  Emperor  is  the  Chief.  Statesman- 
ship on  his  part  is  out  of  the  question.  According  to  the  traditions  and 
customs  of  the  country,  many  hours  of  every  day  the  Tsar  must  be  occu- 
pied in  elaborate  and  exhausting  ceremonies,  and  what  remains  to  him  of 
time  and  strength  is  hardly  sufficient  for  repression  and  self-protection, 
since  relaxation  anywhere  may  open  a  door  for  the  assassin. 

"Revolution  cannot  be  manufactured  to  order."  Russia  is  wholly 
unprepared  for  a  republican  form  of  government.  It  is  very  doubtful  if 
it  could  thrive  under  a  constitution.  A  long  course  of  preparation,  the 
gradual  progress  of  education,  slow  reform  in  Church  and  State,  are 
necessary.  The  Nihilists  have  obstructed  all  these.  Meanwhile  the 
repressive  forces  are  so  powerful  that  assassination  is  the  only  resource 
they  have  ;  yet  assassination  can  only  increase  the  burdens  of  the  people. 
Goldenberg,  brooding  in  his  solitary  cell  of  confession  and  suicide,  saw 
the  truth  which  was  made  still  more  clear  after  the  murder  of  the  Tsar, 
and  expressed  it  thus  :  "  I  found  that  political  murders  not  only  had  not 
brought  us  nearer  to  that  better  state  of  affairs  for  which  we  all  long, 


NIHILISM.  371 

but  had,  on  the  contrary,  made  it  incumbent  on  the  Government  to  take 
extreme  measures  against  us  ;  that  it  is  owing  to  that  same  theory  of 
political  murder  we  have  had  the  misfortune  of  seeing  twenty  gibbets 
raised  in  our  midst,  and  that  to  it  we  are  indebted  for  the  dreadful 
reaction  which  lies  on  all  alike." 

The  political  burdens  which  the  people  of  Russia  have  to  endure  are 
of  two  sorts  :  those  inherent  in  despotism,  which,  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions, vary  with  the  character  of  the  despot,  from  John  the  Terrible  to 
the  most  beneficent  monarch  any  country  ever  had,  and  those  rendered 
necessary  by  attempts,  made  or  anticipated,  to  change  the  character  of 
the  Government  by  violence.  There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  Russia 
is  ready  for  a  change  in  the  character  of  the  Government,  or  that  assas- 
sination could  hasten  such  a  change. 

The  study  which  I  have  given  to  the  subject  for  several  years  past, 
including  the  observations  and  conversations  in  the  country,  lead  me  to 
think  that  things  will  continue  as  they  are  for  centuries  unless  a  war 
arises  which  unites  the  rest  of  Europe  against  Russia  and  reduces  the 
Empire  to  bankruptcy.  This  would  drive  the  privileged  classes  who 
now  enjoy  the  results  of  "  Bureaucracy  "  to  desperation,  the  masses,  at 
the  same  time,  being  sunk  into  intolerable  misery.  If,  in  that  situation, 
the  Emperor  should  be  personally  hated  and  assassinated,  it  is  possible 
to  conceive  the  overthrow  of  the  dynasty  of  the  Romanoffs. 

But  those  who  consider  the  Russian  people  and  their  history,  and 
remember  that  England,  though  so  much  better  prepared  for  radical 
changes  than  Russia,  "beheaded  its  Charles,  but  crowned  its  Cromwell," 
may  doubt  whether  even  such  a  catastrophe  would  effect  an  organic 
change  in  the  form  of  government. 


CHAPTER  XLIV. 

CONTRAST    BETWEEN    RUSSIA    AND    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

RUSSIA  and  the  United  States  resemble  each  other  in  the  vastness 
of  their  territory,  in  the  size  and  number  of  their  rivers,  in  their 
modern  origin  as  nations,  in  the  gigantic  character  of  their  undertakings, 
in  population  and  its  wide  diffusion,  and  in  variety  of  mineral  and  agri- 
cultural products.  They  also  resemble  each  other  in  the  vastness  of 
their  prairies,  the  extent  of  their  forests,  their  immense  mineral  re- 
sources, and  in  having  every  variety  of  climate.  Politically  they  are  sim- 
ilar in  being  the  two  great  nations  of  which  other  powers  are  suspicious 
and  jealous,  and,  growing  out  of  this  fact,  in  having  sympathy  with  each 
other. 

In  America  religion  is  free;  in  Russia,  theoretically,  it  is  not  free. 
Though  dissent  is  tolerated,  it  is  greatly  embarrassed. 

In  Russia  the  great  majority  of  the  people  are  wretchedly  poor;  in 
America  the  great  majority  are  in  comfortable  circumstances,  and  only 
a  small  minority  miserably  poor. 

In  Russia  public  opinion  has  little  or  no  power  ;  in  America  it  is  al- 
most omnipotent.  In  the  United  States  all  public  matters  are  discussed 
without  restriction,  and  no  censorship  of  the  press  exists.  In  Russia 
anything  worthy  the  name  of  dicussion  is  unknown,  and  a  frightful  cen- 
sorship of  the  press  still  continues  to  be.  In  the  United  States  a  high 
degree  of  mercantile  honor  yet  prevails  ;  in  Russia  it  is  the  exception. 

In  Russia  nothing  relating  to  the  general  administration  of  affairs  is 
subject  to  a  controlling  vote.  There  is  nothing  analogous  to  a  Legis- 
lature. The  four  great  councils  can  accomplish  nothing  without  the 
consent  of  the  Emperor.  In  the  United  States  the  will  of  the  people 
is  the  last  authority.  In  Russia  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  is  unknown  ; 
the  personal  liberty  of  the  citizen  is  at  the  caprice  of  the  authorities. 

372 


CONTRAST  BETWEEN  RUSSIA  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES.      373 

In  the  United  States,  individual  liberty  is  granted  to  every  man  not  a 
pauper,  a  lunatic,  or  a  criminal.  And  a  legal  and  public  investigation  of 
charges  against  him  is  his  indefeasible  right. 

In  the  United  States,  dissatisfaction  with  the  administration  is  fol- 
lowed by  its  overthrow  at  the  polls.  In  Russia,  dissatisfaction  with  the 
Government  has  no  legitimate  means  of  expressing  itself. 

In  the  United  States,  in  the  original  colonies  of  which  this  country 
was  formed,  it  was  possible  to  organize  a  revolution  under  existing  forms 
of  authority  covering  the  entire  territory,  and  including  a  large  majority 
of  all  classes  of  the  population ;  in  Russia  such  a  thing  can  never  occur. 

As  I  have  tried  to  show,  the  disordered  proceedings  of  the  Nihilists 
cannot  be  justified,  and  have  thus  far  failed  of  their  ends  ;  nevertheless, 
ineffectual  efforts  of  a  violent  character  are  the  only  means  by  which  the 
discontented  can  effect  anything. 

The  working  of  the  emancipation  of  millions  of  serfs  was  peculiar. 
Reference  has  already  been  made  to  it.  It  impoverished  many  of  the 
nobles,  and,  as  many  of  the  holders  of  slaves  in  former  times  in  this 
country  had  never  known  what  economy  meant,  and  understood  nothing 
of  finance,  so  the  Russian  nobles  knew  nothing  of  either,  and  many  of 
them  are  growing  poorer  every  year. 

The  law  of  primogeniture  does  not  prevail  in  Russia.  Where  it  does, 
as  in  England,  the  eldest  son  takes  all  the  land,  and  the  title,  if  there  be 
one.  In  Russia  all  the  children  of  a  prince  are  princes  or  princesses,  and 
at  the  death  of  the  head  of  the  family  the  property  has  to  be  equally 
divided  among  them.  This  accounts  for  the  existence  of  pauper  princes, 
with  titles,  but  without  money ;  and  whole  villages  of  impoverished 
nobles :  indeed,  princes  can  be  found  driving  hogs,  sawing  wood,  or  per- 
forming almost  any  kind  of  labor.  Such  impoverished  nobles  who  can 
find  nothing  to  do,  and  are  driven  to  desperation,  occasionally,  and  very 
naturally,  become  Nihilists. 

Many  of  the  serfs  were  made  arrogant ;  set  to  thinking  of  things  of 
which  they  never  thought  in  their  lives  —  things  incompatible  with  sub- 
jugation. A  Russian  gentleman  informed  me  that  after  the  decree  of 


374      CONTRAST  BETWEEN  RUSSIA  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

emancipation  was  published,  his  sons  and  daughters,  minor  children, 
walking  along  the  street  were  insulted,  both  by  the  looks  and  the  words 
of  the  serfs.  A  Scotch  governess  who  had  been  forty  years  in  Russia, 
a  woman  of  rare  intelligence  and  candor,  confirmed  the  account.  It  is 
natural  enough,  and  I  cite  it  simply  to  show  the  ferment  which  arose. 

A  remarkable  institution  exists  in  Russia,  between  which  and  the 
town  meetings  of  this  country,  there  is  great  similarity.  Count  Cavour, 
the  Italian  statesman  who  organized  the  government  of  new  Italy, 
thought  this  communal  system  the  most  perfect  in  the  world.  It  is  a 
true  New  England  town  meeting,  with  some  peculiarities.  I  studied  it 
as  far  as  possible,  especially  with  regard  to  the  manner  of  settling 
opinions,  which  is  not  by  votes,  but  by  general  assent  after  exhaustive 
debates.  I  was  also  interested  in  the  manner  of  disposing  of  lands 
which  are  owned  in  fee  simple,  not  by  the  individual,  but  by  the  com- 
mune. To  treat  it  thoroughly  would  require  an  enlargement,  and  a 
change,  in  the  character  qf  this  work.  Such  as  desire  to  see  how  what 
appears  to  be  an  absolute  republic  exists  in  the  heart  of  an  absolute 
despotism,  may  find  it  treated  in  various  elaborate  works,  and  in  a  vol- 
ume recently  issued  by  Stepniak,  who,  in  such  matters,  is  in  general 
accurate. 

The  whole  Russian  Empire  only  contains  about  six  hundred  periodi- 
cals. Of  these,  fifty-five  are  daily  ;  forty  are  published  several  times  a 
week  ;  eighty-five  weekly,  and  eighty-seven  monthly.  Then  there  are 
one  hundred  and  thirty-three  that  appear  several  times  a  year,  but  not  as 
often  as  monthly.  About  one  half  the  whole  number  are  published  in 
St.  Petersburg.  Two  hundred  are  published  in  German,  French,  and 
other  languages,  and  four  hundred  in  Russian. 

There  is  only  one  periodical  to  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand 
of  the  Russian  population.  Compare  that  with  the  United  States,  where 
there  is  one  periodical  to  every  four  thousand  two  hundred  and  thirty ! 

In  Russia  there  are  more  than  a  thousand  towns  with  more  than  a 
thousand  population  each,  not  one  in  ten  of  which  has  a  periodical  of 
any  sort. 


CONTRAST  BETWEEN  RUSSIA  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES.      375 

Most  of  the  periodicals  are  under  the  management  of  officials.  The 
difficulty  of  obtaining  information  is  great.  No  reporter  is  ever  allowed 
to  enter  the  sanctum  of  any  department,  or  to  touch  any  official  docu- 
ments ;  and  no  Russian  official  will  dare  to  give  an  outsider  any  infor- 
mation, even  of  the  most  innocent  nature.  Under  such  conditions  the 
public  at  large  can  only  learn  as  much  of  the  workings  of  the  various 
Government  wheels  as  the  Government  itself  may  please  to  divulge. 

Censors  of  periodicals  and  books  are  located  in  nine  of  the  largest 
towns.  Authors  and  publishers  may  be  punished  for  "harmful  ideas,  or 
even  'tendencies,'  and  that  without  any  chance  for  the  accused  or  con- 
demned parties  to  defend  themselves.  Their  books  may  be  seized  or 
destroyed,  and  the  authors  subjected  to  imprisonment  or  transportation 
to  some  distant  part  of  the  empire." 

The  following  is  the  law  warning :  "  In  the  case  of  periodicals,  these 
are  '  warned '  for  the  first  offence,  with  or  without  fine,  and  with  or 
without  forbidding  to  publish  advertisements  and  to  sell  the  publication 
in  the  streets.  The  third  warning  results  in  the  stopping  of  the  period- 
ical for  a  period  of  from  three  to  eight  months.  A  bold  and  refractory 
periodical  can  be  stopped  at  once  and  forever.  .  .  .  No  periodical 
has  the  right  to  publish  any  news  of  the  Tsar,  or  of  the  imperial  court, 
without  the  sanction  of  the  Minister  of  Court.  No  lay  paper  can  pub- 
lish any  discussions  on  religious  topics  without  having  subjected  them 
to  the  religious  censure.  All  periodicals  are  bound  to  publish  the  so- 
called  '  refutations '  coming  from  the  official  sources  against  the  news 
gathered  by  the  periodicals  themselves." 

In  many  places  in  Russia  there  are  no  papers;  the  Governor  is  the 
censor,  and  no  editors  could  suit  him ;  and  the  authority  previously 
quoted  —  entirely  unprejudiced  and  competent  —  says:  "The  session  of 
the  local  representatives,  though  open,  cannot  be  described  in  the  news- 
papers without  the  Governor's  permission." 

While,  then,  discussion  is  free,  and  the  liberty  of  the  press  has  long 
since  become  license  in  the  United  Sates,  no  free  discussion  is  allowed 
in  any  Russian  paper.  Books  which  discuss  principles  that  would  tend 


376      CONTRAST  BETWEEN  RUSSIA  AND  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

to  overthrow  the  Russian  Autocracy,  are  forbidden.  No  man  dares  to 
sell  them,  or  to  be  found  with  them.  Newspapers  arriving  by  mail 
from  foreign  countries  are  examined  in  the  post-office  before  delivery, 
and  what  is  objected  to  concerning  Russia  is  erased  or  covered  with  ink, 
or  some  other  preparation  of  a  deep  black  color,  which  makes  the  words 
unintelligible.  The  only  way  to  secure  a  newspaper  from  a  foreign 
country  in  an  unmutilated  condition,  is  to  have  it  sent  to  a  Minister  or 
Consul  of  one's  own  country,  and  go  to  him  and  get  it.  Some  of  the 
foreign  residents  of  St.  Petersburg,  not  connected  with  the  diplomatic 
service  of  their  own  countries,  have  their  letters,  as  well  as  their  news- 
papers, sent  to  the  care  of  their  embassies.  Copies  of  the  "London 
Times"  and  other  papers  sent  to  me  while  in  Russia,  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  censor,  and  half  a  page  was  cut  out  of  one.  While  in  Russia  I 
did  not  dare  to  send  letters  to  the  address  of  the  American  paper  with 
which  I  was  corresponding,  though  I  was  then  writing  about  other  coun- 
tries. The  risk  of  their  being  opened  and  detained  or  destroyed  was  so 
great  as  to  render  their  fate  uncertain.  I  was  advised  by  an  official  to 
address  them,  not  to  the  paper,  but  to  a  private  individual.  This  cen- 
sorship is  nothing  less  than  appalling. 

The -mingled  grandeur  and  desolation,  majesty  and  sadness  of  Russia, 
present  a  spectacle  dissimilar  to  anything  that  the  world  can  elsewhere 
exhibit.  Poland,  with  its  misfortunes  ;  the  strange  contrasts  of  its  popu- 
lation, its  heroism  marred  by  fanaticism,  though  now  a  part  of  Russia, 
offers  distinct  phases  of  human  nature  and  history  for  our  contemplation. 

After  looking  on  the  picture  of  superstition,  poverty,  internal  ferment, 
and  galling  suppression  of  public  discussion  which  Russia  presents,  it  is 
not  strange  that  we  should  return  with  pride  and  satisfaction  to  our  own 
land  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  in  which,  with  its  confessed  faults, 
we  find  the  best  example,  on  a  large  scale,  of  a  "government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people,"  which  patriotism,  wisdom 
and  self-restraint  have  yet  attained. 


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